Where Credit Is Due
by kmwhyte
Summary: Give Her Some Credit Sequel! It's been ten years since we left Bella, Edward, and Renesmee. Now the Cullens must deal with the past, new worries, and new loves. How will Bella and Edward cope? There's always more than we know...
1. You Can Be the Light

**I own: two Christmas trees, both under three feet and kept up high from my jumping dog**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**BPOV (Bella) Ten years since the end of ****Give Her Some Credit**

"…_You wake me up; you're having a bad dream. You let out a loud scream 'cause you're trying to find me, I run through the door. You hold out your hand, I put it inside of mine and sing you a lullaby, you're falling asleep inside my arms and I say; You could be the light and I could be the darkness, that covers you at night; I'll be all you wanted. You might find it strange, but I just find you beautiful. There's nothing you can change so, please don't change for me at all…"_

The first few notes drew me in as they always did. Edward had played this song hundreds, actually thousands, of times over the years. It always brought my emotions to the surface.

The first few times Edward played the song for Renesmee or I, I liked it, if only because Edward was the singer. But one night in the middle of June, he told me why he was constantly playing the tune.

~X~

"_You know it's not an original composition, correct?" I nodded as he smirked, dragging out the beginning notes into a flowing melody. "It was written by a signer/songwriter that never seemed to have his big break even though he was more than deserving of the notability. He just needed that one song, the one song that would start off his fame. This one would have been over looked too easily." _

_I walked over to Edward as he sat at the piano. I had intended to sit beside him, but he pulled me into his lap. I smiled into his neck getting myself into the familiar position while he put his fingers back into motion._

"_I cannot do that however, it reminds me too much of the women I love." I sat back, waiting for him to continue. "You and Renesmee; it's like this song was written to remind me of the two of you. The memories practically battle the lyrics it seems…"_

~X~

At the end of the first verse, his fingers twitched. I relished in those moments where I took him by surprise. He of course knew I was there, watching him intently, but it took him a few moments because of how lost he was in the feelings, the lyrics.

He kept playing, singing, however. It was the illusion of vulnerability; that I was catching him in a rare moment where he was lost in the power of his thoughts.

I gazed at his neck; from the point where I was standing I could just see the way the corner of his mouth turned up as I watched him uninterrupted. He knew how much I loved this time of the evening when he would play _that_ song and we could just be us; Edward and Bella Cullen.

Oh, we got married, though not in the way anyone had expected, or apparently wanted.

Three years after we had come back from Forks, I wanted to make it official; that I was his and he was mine in every way, even marital.

It wasn't that I afraid that Edward would leave again or that I was still fearing he would change his mind one day. That fear had vanished the day Edward and I had made love again that first time in Forks… and the next several times certainly cemented in my mind.

But, I just wanted to be young with Edward. We were forever young, sure, but the truth was we never got the opportunity to just be Edward and Bella. We fell in love in high school and immediately had to deal with homicidal vampires. After that, we had maybe a few moments in time before my birthday and then him leaving. And after twenty years of being a single mother, as much I say it changed me, it was simply because it had. You grow up, whether you intend to or not. And then after all of that, when we finally met again, I spent the next several months fighting the feelings that I wanted to give into.

After everything was said and done, I just wanted to be with Edward without the responsibility, without the status of being married, just for a bit.

After three years, I came to the conclusion that as much as I loved being with Edward, it didn't have to change just because of marriage.

So we went to Vegas.

We only took Renesmee with us and once the ceremony was complete, we promptly put her back on a plane to the family so we could enjoy out honeymoon.

Esme was not pleased.

Emmett was depressed that he missed out on Vegas.

Alice was pissed.

Yet, when it all came down to it, I didn't care. Edward and I were unconventional from the start and I wanted it to be as if we were humans marrying too young against our parents' wishes. That's how it could have been for us, given those circumstances.

Edward and I had talked in length about it before hand, without making decisions, of course. I knew that Esme and Carlisle, and even Emmett and Rose, had been married nearly once a decade, sometimes more if the urge struck them. Alice and Jasper had even been married twice, once with the family and once without.

When it came right down to it, I knew this wouldn't be our only wedding, but it was our first. We could have the family wedding later down the line, but I wanted this one for us, only us. I wanted it outlandish, crazy even, because that was how Edward made me feel about him. We were both agreed that Renesmee be a part of it, it was her meddling ways that we found each other of course. Our daughter was everything.

"… _Watching you sleep. I'm watching the worlds collide, 'cause you need a chance to find the woman you are inside and I am in the way. I can't escape how I am for you; how I adore you. But baby it's you; dream, dream with me that someday… You could be the light and I could be the darkness that covers you at night; I'll be all you wanted. You might find it strange, but I just find you beautiful. There's nothing you can change so, please don't change for me at all…"_

I listened to the notes carry as he played the second verse before diving into the bridge. I smiled.

The air changed from its soft, flowing melody into the fast, heated resolve, just like our life was changing. For better or worse, I wasn't so sure… yet.

**A/N: Oh My Cullen! Wow, it's back and I'm so awestruck from where this came from because when I thought of how this sequel would come to life, this was not how I imagined. I imagined more drama, maybe a broken relationship or two, but now… it doesn't feel right to expect them in turmoil like that so… yeah, not what I'm going for here. **

**Fair Warning: this will be drawn out a bit, I have the big reveal where we're going set between the first three chapters and what happens after that is still a bit vague in my head, but I have an idea of where I'm going which is how ****Give Her Some Credit**** came to be, so why not try again.**

**Also, the song used it **_**You can be the light**_** by Brandon Young. A friend of a friend of a friend that is trying to break out into the music scene, check him out of Myspace and buy the EP on iTunes.**

**In case you're curious why it took me so damn long to start this thing:**

**-Inspiration. Ideas aren't everything, but after driving the two hours back to my home from my parents for Thanksgiving (crying due to family drama on top of it…) and with the right combination of music, my dear friend inspiration stuck and I have the next three chapters pretty much planned out… YAY!**

**-Title. Yeah, it took forever for me to decide on a title. This was my original idea for the title. I hope you all like it. It a reference to the first story, how could I pass that up.**

**-Time. Yeah I teach 26 1****st**** graders now and it takes a lot out of me. That's not including my slow, yet still alive personal life. You know, I'd actually like to keep that kicking if I could manage it. I intended to finish my other story first, but then again I started it during ****Give Her Some Credit**** then too…**

**As for ****And I Need You Now****… it has slowed down… basically to a screeching halt, but I do intend to finish it and the goal is before the New Year. There should only be about three or four chapters before the end of that story.**

**Finally, thanks for reading the chapter, and an even bigger thank you for reading the long and ranting A/N. Please review and let me know how you feel about the way this is going and what ideas or feelings you have of what is coming... please ;)**

**~kmhyte**


	2. A Thousand Little Wars

**I own: the Target Edition of Eclipse and I'm saving the commentaries until I feel really sad about something because I know my focus with be completely obliterated.**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**BPOV (Bella) **

"…_You could be the light and I could be the darkness, that covers you at night; I'll be all you wanted. You might find it strange, but I just find you beautiful. There's nothing you can change so, please don't change for me at all…"_

We had grown accustomed to how our lives worked; the back story, the vague answers, the routine… the repetitive cycle. It was almost comforting when we got a break from the "history" we had concocted.

Carlisle had suggested we try a few various scenarios to see which story, for the entire family, was the most… believable; the most understood.

At first we had tried for their original story to just include Renesmee and me into its folds. We were just another pair of siblings adopted by Doctor and Mrs. Cullen; similar to Rosalie and Jasper. That had worked when we went to Montana for three years, but was too incredible for the people of Oregon to buy apparently.

We were only in that particular town for just under a year before the whispers became too loud to ignore.

After that I decided it was time to keep my promise to Edward and we escaped to Isle Esme while the rest of the family went to Alaska for a sense of normalcy.

We stayed on the island for thirteen months. It was… heaven. It was truly an escape being able to enjoy the warmth and sun year round even when the water chilled in the winter months. We explored hidden waterfalls, underwater caves, and every animal habitat, sans animals due to their own survival instincts. We saw every inch of the island within a week, and then a full twenty miles of the ocean in every direction within the next week. It was amazing to be under water with Edward for hours on end; never needing the breath I would have as a human.

And not to mention that this was done naked, both of us. The way we sparkled because of the way the sun reflected upon the water made the both of us glow under the sea.

During those thirteen months, Renesmee popped in a few times, with notice of course. The family took turns visiting us in pairs and then as a group before we all left for good.

It was hard to leave paradise, but not nearly as hard as it could have been to leave Edward. We decided to relocate to Canada next and that was where we were now.

The new back story was working better. Edward and I were married and Renesmee, "my sister," lived with us since "our parents" had died a few years ago. Carlisle was Edward's "older brother" and he and Esme had adopted Rosalie and Jasper, along with Alice and Emmett. This story kind of let the teenage years pass for the rest of us. Renesmee was the only one still going to high school and that was by her own choice. We lived in separate houses on a secluded piece of land. It was really refreshing to just be Edward, Renesmee, and I living as a semi-normal family in the real world and as a real family within our own house. It was like I could just be with my husband and daughter, like we were _just_ what we were supposed to be.

Edward's arms slipped around my waist, I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed he has ended the song and walked over to me. "What are you thinking, love?" He whispered while laying a single kiss just under my ear.

I smiled as my cold heart warmed at the affectionate gesture. _Not much, just about how far we've come, _I thought, opening my mind to him.

He nodded as he rested his head next to mine, still keeping his arms wrapped around me. "Still trying to decide?" He breathed, and I could tell he was unsure about whether it was a safe subject or not. I nodded, not sure of how to answer myself.

~X~

Five months ago was when everything started to change.

I had gotten a call from Sue, Charlie's wife.

It wasn't really unusual for Charlie and me to call one another. We had gotten into a fairly regular routine throughout the years after Edward and I went back to Forks. I had made it a point to call him every two weeks, without fail; even on Isle Esme I would take the speedboat out to have proper reception and make my bi-weekly call to him. Occasionally he would call as well, but not a regularly.

That was why I was so surprised when his number popped up on my caller ID. When I answered, I obviously wasn't expecting Sue, even though we had talked briefly through the years as Charlie wanted me to know her and vice versa.

"_Bella… Do you have a few minutes? I… I really need to speak with you?"_

Her words chilled me; there was a sense of panic in them and I immediately froze anticipating what would possibly force her in to contacting me versus going through Charlie.

After a few minutes, I had my answer. Charlie had suffered a stroke and… it didn't look good, at all. Apparently, he had been having minor cases over the last year, but he was too proud to say anything. He just toughed out the pain. _If he had just said something; went to a doctor…_

The doctor wasn't anticipating much time given his condition which only infuriated Sue; and myself.

Sue, subtly, encouraged me to come see him, alone of course, claiming that he needed to know that things had worked out "best given the extremely horrific circumstances." _Her words…_

I called Charlie the next day, trying to get him to own up to the health issue, but he fended me off pretty well. Up until, he realized that I was early on my regularly scheduled phone call, then he went all Chief of Police and claimed that I didn't have all the facts. He attempted to calm my fears, but that only exaggerated them more. By the end of the call, I was sobbing into Edward's lap as he quietly disconnected the call.

Charlie had known that I found Edward again about ten years back; although he was convinced it was all a con and that he was who I ran away with all those years ago. I wanted him to know I was happy with him, that he took care of me, but he still didn't know about Renesmee.

And at this point, I was convinced he never would…

Edward tried to get me to go, swearing that we could make it right. And I was tempted, really I was, but in all honesty… there was one thing that kept me back. It was the same thing that held all of us back… fear.

It was the fear of losing more children that had Esme checking on us all the time and trying to take care of our problems at every turn.

It was the fear of being vulnerable that kept Rosalie from letting anyone in too closely.

It was the fear of the unknown that made Emmett put on the strong bravado each and every day.

It was the fear of the loss of power that had Alice trying to manipulate the lives of everyone else around her, no matter the annoyance we felt.

It was the fear of the dark side of this life that had Jasper worrying about the possibility of losing control.

It was the fear of using me that had Edward determined not to make any of his mistakes twice.

And it was the fear of not being able to say goodbye to Charlie that had me frozen in place… again. It seemed as if I was always frozen in some form or another.

Fear, the bitch that it was, is what kept me from seeing Charlie one last time.

**A/N: Kind of a sour note, I know… but "happy" must be earned! **

**Truth or DARE? I dare you to tell me what you think is gonna happen now!**

**Also, I am offering up a prize… if you tell me where my chapter title/ music reference is from, I will send you a chapter teaser by the end of the weekend, sound good?**

**Now review, please! ;)**

**~kmhyte**


	3. I Wish I Could Save You

**I own: many lovely Christmas gifts, I'm a lucky one ;)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**EPOV (Edward) **

To any human, it would appear that Bella was asleep; naturally resting in the most beautiful way. She was flawless as she laid here in our bed. Her hair was fanned out in every direction, her head turned up to myself as I rested up against our headboard. Her breathing was even, shallow. Her chest rose with the breaths she took and I was memorized by the way her body was motionless, yet perfectly at ease.

We did this nightly. She would lay down to rest; it was as close to sleeping as our kind could ever get. Sometimes, I would pretend as well, attempting to turn my mind off. Other times, I would just watch her; pretend that we were still vampire and human trying to hide from Charlie. And of course, there were times when we didn't "sleep" at all… those were my favorite…

_Yes, definitely a favorite of mine…_

Yet tonight was unlike any of those descriptions, but it was becoming a pattern since two weeks ago. Her mind was working overtime and although it would be hard to notice, I did. Her eyelids fluttered as her mind buzzed with the possible choices and outcomes. Her hands twitched towards mine, but then she would pull back. The movement was minuscule; barely noticeable by our kind, but I was attuned to her like no other.

I would catch words, thoughts, as she opened her mind up and then immediately closing it off to me again. We didn't talk about how she would let me in only to rethink her decision. We were both well aware that all I wanted was for her to be happy and while I was here for her to talk out her own thought process, I would not make this choice for her. She had to decide what was right for her, what was right for us all.

~X~

Bella was still undecided on whether she wanted to see Charlie again and I knew it was her own fear holding her back.

And ironically enough, it was my own fear that had me wanting to convince her to go and wanting to hold her back at the same time.

We had discussed it for days here and there. She tried to keep it from the rest of the family, but there really were no secrets with a shield, telepath, physic, and empath in the house; not to mention our tactile projector of a daughter. Over the years, she's even toyed with reading thoughts through touch as well.

The simple truth was, there were no secrets, but we all valued privacy which is why no one brought the topic up with Bella except for myself and Renesmee.

Yet, we got nowhere incredibly fast.

It wasn't until Sue made a second phone call. Then everything happened incredibly fast even for us.

Charlie had suffered a second major stroke and in his condition, he really couldn't afford it. He was in and out of consciousness when Sue called. She literally begged Bella to come, saying that Charlie had been asking for her for hours since he had been admitted to the hospital. The doctors didn't anticipate him living through the night and Alice could already see that they were looking at the best possible outcome and not at the most likely.

We took off, or rather; Bella took off dropping the phone and barreling out of the door in our house in Canada with me following behind. She was barely slower than I was, although faster than many of our kind, but her desire, her fear, to see Charlie before it was too late had her pushing her own limitations.

From Alice's vision, I knew it would be too late by the time we reached Forks and Charlie would have already passed, but I couldn't let Bella believe it was a lost cause. I continued to follow, even though I could have reached her and ran by her side. I wanted her to believe, to know she did everything possible to see her father one last time. I knew the regret would eat at her and I had seen what living with regrets could do to our kind; I'd give up anything for that not to happen to her.

Bella didn't slow down until she reached the hospital doors, then her body turned searching for me in the few seconds it took me to reach her. I saw the panic in her face, the questions of whether she could barge into the hospital where people could possibly recognize her and myself.

I quickly pulled Bella's hair closer to her face; with the venom flowing through her body, the color had intensified over the years and was a good foot longer than it used to be. I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head and grasped her hand all within seconds, leading her down a path where I didn't hear any familiar voices, while still looking for Charlie's room.

It didn't take long to find the room because I smelled the distinct odor of werewolf. It was fading, they had left recently and by the thoughts radiating from Sue, I knew it was because, like Alice's vision, Charlie had passed on.

Sue smiled a sad smile as her eyes left Charlie and fell upon Bella and me. She turned back to Charlie's lifeless body and then rose from her seat and left Bella and I alone. I whispered a quiet "thank you" as she shut the door behind herself. I stayed by the wall as Bella walked closer to the bed.

My heart shattered when she pulled a chair over next to the right side of Charlie, gripping his hand, and told him _everything._ If only it wasn't too late…

**A/N: Shorter than I wanted, and took way longer than I wanted to get it all to you. But, my excuses are selfish so I won't bore you with them, the important thing is this chapter is posted and I am planning on getting at least one more chapter out before next week since I will be back at school. **

**And a warning, it's going to get sadder before it gets happier, but not by much… and the happy and hilarity will be a plenty ;)**

**Also, I am offering up another prize (those that responded last chapter have awesome taste in music, by the way)… if you tell me where my chapter title/ music reference is from, I will send you a chapter teaser when I start the next chapter, sound good?**

**Now review, please! ;)**

**~kmwhyte**


	4. There Are Places I Remember

**I own: a set of the ugliest dishes I've ever seen as a Christmas present from a crazy relative… yay :(**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**EPOV (Edward) **

"… I wouldn't have left if I thought I could stay…"

"… I promise… I swear…"

"… But, she's wonderful, Dad, you'd love her…"

"… I know it could be easy for you to hate him, but it's absolutely impossible when you see him with her…"

"… Protect me… I know right?"

"… I've never felt so loved, so lucky…"

"… I wanted to tell you… so many times…"

"… I love you Dad and so does your granddaughter…"

"… I'm sorry Daddy…"

My heart was breaking for her. Every new piece of information she whispered to her father's body was literally tearing my heart apart; whether it was beating or not did not make the pain any easier for either of us.

I couldn't fix this.

I couldn't make this all better for her, like I always tried to. This was something I could only comfort her through. I could, would, be there, but I couldn't take the pain away, and that was _killing_ me.

~X~

It was a little over an hour before Bella finally gazed from Charlie to me. She was still gripping Charlie's hand when she whispered to me. "He's cold… and it's not like it is with us…"

I nodded, moving closer to her.

"I should have come sooner." She stood and fell into the circle of my arms. "Damnit…" she cursed.

I held Bella closer as we exited the hospital, unnoticed thankfully. We didn't see Sue or anyone else that was close by to be with Charlie, but I knew that those at La Push were steering away from us, and for that I was thankful.

I was leading us in the direction of the house, but apparently that was not where Bella wanted to be. She turned before we reached the fern pathway; instead we were now headed deeper in the forest, closer and closer to the meadow.

When we reached the outer edge, I paused, allowing Bella to lead me where she intended. She turned when she reached the middle, smiling a soft smile. It broke my heart when I saw her eyes full of tears. I was at her side with my hands holding her closely within a moment.

"Why here?" I whispered after a few minutes of silence.

She sighed, breathing deeply at my chest. "I used to think this was the closest to heaven I could ever get." She sighed, turning her head so she was gazing at our arms glittering in the sunlight. "For some reason… I guess it's stupid… but I hoped he would be here." I ran my fingers through her hair, letting her say whatever she needed to as I kissed her temple. "I can't believe my Dad is dead. I always knew I'd outlive him, but I never thought it would feel this way, you know…" I nodded, squeezing her. "I'm not sure how to be in this place, be at all, with my Dad not existing; it feels so foreign, so wrong…"

"I know." I muttered.

She looked up to me. "Is this how it felt when you woke up from the change and realized your parents had died from the influenza?"

I ran my hands up and down her arms as I shook my head. "Not really… I was too… over stimulated from the change; the senses, the thirst, the _thoughts_. It overpowered the memories and by the time I could rationalize and process what I had lost, it was beyond what I could fathom. They seemed just like a dream to me; they still do."

She nodded, but refused to let go.

"Bella, I'm a little lost at what to do here…" I couldn't possibly think of what to say or do to fix this; and that was because there really wasn't anything I could do.

"Just… hold me." And I did, for hours.

~X~

I was holding her in our bed, six weeks since Charlie had died; five weeks since the funeral, since everything in our world turned upside down. And Bella still hadn't made up her mind… but by the way her body eased just a few minutes ago, the way all the tension had just left her body, I knew she had.

I didn't know what I was hoping for, but whatever her decision, I was following her, we all were…

**A/N: Kind of a filler chapter, but it had to be done, I do expect the next chapter to be longer and show what will be the plot of the story. Most have figured it out, but let me know… what are you expecting… and what do you want?**

**As usual, tell me the song and I will send a teaser as soon as I have one ready ;)**

**Now review, please! ;)**

**~kmwhyte**


	5. Drag the Past Out into the Light

**I own: a Ninja! Have you seen those things… they freaking rock… smoothie in 30 seconds ;)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**BPOV (Bella)**

"You've made up your mind, haven't you, Love?" Edward whispered in my ear low enough that we were the only ones in the house having this conversation.

I sighed, feeling the weight leave my body with the decision I had just determined.

The truth was I had always known what I was going to do, I just wasn't sure it was feasible.

~X~

The Funeral.

I wanted to go for all the reasons I didn't. I knew I couldn't miss my last chance to stay goodbye to Charlie. _Technically I already did that, and I was trying my best to let that go, but it was proving to be difficult._

After Edward and I stayed in the meadow until the sun sank into the distance, we headed west to another of the Cullen properties that was surrounded by denser forests so we could hunt.

I called Sue from there, leaving a short, but pleading message on her answering machine.

"_Sue, it's Bella. I'm sorry for what you're going through right now; I can't imagine what it feels like for you, but for me… Anyways, I wanted to get in touch with you. This may be too much to ask, but… I want to come back for the service. I know it's difficult with what I, we, am, are… but… Just call me back, I just don't want to start anything without meaning to."_

Edward had told me about their history with the wolves years ago and I knew their "agreement" was shaky at best. All I wanted was to pay my respects. Sue had no reason to offer me favors, but I hoped that she would do it for my father. She loved him after all.

It was days before I received a phone call to my line and I was a bit surprised by that fact, but then when I saw who was calling, I wasn't surprised at all that it was Alice.

Ten minutes after she delivered her curious message I received Sue's call as well.

"The pack," as she called them, were leery, but respected my father enough to allow me to come. They promised to not start any trouble, but they requested a low amount of our kind. It made them nervous; naturally, to have too many of us so close to them. And of course they were concerned about people recognizing any of us, let alone any one of us having a snack.

In the end, Edward and I were attending alone. The entire family, especially Renesmee, Alice, and Esme, wanted to come to support me and say their farewells to Charlie. Yet, we decided we didn't want to tempt the wolves unnecessarily.

After applying several layers of extremely expensive makeup to our flawless faces to make them appear less flawless and some tasteless wigs, we headed to Charlie's funeral.

I had never been to the Callum Bay Cemetery and while I wasn't sure why it was decided that Charlie be buried there instead of Forks, I now knew the reasoning behind it.

It was… breathtaking.

You couldn't see the water, but you could smell it in the air. The greenery was mystic, fading out in layers around graves, tombstones, and monuments. It backed up to several forests, which was how Edward and I arrived. The crowds, even in another county, to pay their respects to Charlie were extensive; we blended in, but still hung in the black.

Edward never dropped my hand and I was constantly increasing my grasp on his.

The closer we got to the burial site, the more people I was aware of both within my line of vision and otherwise.

I opened up my thoughts to Edward as we reached our destination. _Standing room only…_

It wasn't a question, just a stunned thought. Edward leaned into me, whispering in my ear. "He _was_ the Chief of Police. He was beloved by them all; I can hear it." I nodded.

There were nearly fifty folding chairs behind the coffin and they were filled; and that wasn't even one fourth of the mourners assembled here. I scanned the crowd and my eyes locked on the population of Native Americans in the first three rows.

Sue was sidled by a woman and man, both of which held her hands. I'm not sure how I knew who they were, but I was. And as soon as Leah's eyes locked on my own, I was one hundred percent positive. Seeing her only once, and in her wolf form at that, I knew that that angry woman was my step-sister which meant the man on the opposite side of Sue was my step-brother.

As if Edward heard my thinking, he whispered, "Leah, Sue, and Seth." I nodded. As Leah shifted, Seth turned to look in our direction and… he smiled… and winked. I felt my own lips curve up at the easy-going way he was acknowledging my presence given the circumstances. Edward's chuckle was hidden to everyone, but me. I looked expectantly at him, waiting for an explanation. "It seems… that at least to Seth, he finds it humorous that a werewolf is related to a vampire, even if it be not from blood. He is tremendously less hostel than the others."

My vision trailed down the line of Native Americans, particularly the men, the wolves. They were intimidating to say the least. Their scowls were permanent and blended in with the looks of grief from the other people surrounding this site.

My eyes jumped to a man, taller than the rest. He seemed to growl lowly in his throat as I was studying him from my suitable distance. Edward tensed, before explaining in just two words.

"Jacob Black."

I gasped. I knew that name, I knew that boy. He was gangly in my memories, as hazy as they were, but lanky none the less. But he wasn't a boy anymore; he was an incredible fierce man, an incredibly fierce wolf. It was damn near scary to see the way his eyes blazed when looking in my direction. And I had a feeling that his thoughts went along with his looks considering the way Edward was shifting me behind him slightly.

I didn't have any recollection of the other men and women I saw sitting closely with Sue and her children, and I couldn't really recognize if I knew the others sitting or standing around the crowd. Without knowing who I was looking for, I was completely lost.

Edward sensed my frustration and nervousness and spoke quietly, too low for anyone to notice. "It seems the only people that you would know, much less that would recognize either of us, besides Sue and the wolves, are Mrs. Cope and then Angela and her husband." He nodded in their directions, but I couldn't seem to place the person that was 'Mrs. Cope.'

Edward, sensing my confusion yet again, spoke quietly. "She worked in the high school office. Apparently when she retired, she volunteered at the station. She really respected Charlie; I can tell from her thoughts." I listened to his words, but they never struck a chord. I didn't remember her and the longer I stared the more frustrated I became. Not only was she beyond my human memories, but she was clearly older than Charlie and she was still alive. How is that fair?

I focused my vision on Angela and Ben. Those people I remembered, even more, those people I loved. Angela smiled in my direction, clearly seeing through the disguise. I nodded to her just before the service began.

The words spoke of God, faith, selflessness, and the various attributes of Charlie's personality. It was obvious he was "beloved," as Edward had said. I saw tears shed, especially from Sue, but it was when Leah got up to speak when I realized how much I missed and wished I had been witness too.

"I had a wonderful father. He provided for my mother, my brother, and myself. He protected and guarded us from the world when we needed it and sometimes even when we didn't. But he died too soon." I listened to Leah speak without even breathing for fear I would miss a word.

"Most people would be too proud to let another man come into their father's place, and at first I was. I didn't want him to be a replacement for my dad, but he never was; he was an enhancement to our family. He was everything my mother needed and everything my brother and I desired, whether it be friend, confidant, or father figure. He was it.

"Again, I have lost a father too soon. So has my brother. So have others. And my mother has lost another love. And so have the people who knew him as a friend or a chief, or the man that went to the diner for takeout when he should have been eating a salad. We will all miss him; Chief Charlie Swan."

I quietly sobbed into Edward's neck, not knowing what else to do with myself. That's how the rest of the service went for me; crying over the lovely words people spoke about my father.

~X~

Afterwards, Edward pulled me off to a semi-secluded spot. We appeared to be grieving which was true, but we were also waiting. Whether it be for Sue, Leah, Seth, Jacob, or even Angela; I wasn't sure.

Angela was the one who appeared, with Ben in tow. His eyes fell on Edward and I and it was plain in his face that he knew exactly who we were. The smile that rose on his lips let me know he was well aware of Angela and I's past.

Angela came closer, ten years older than the last time I saw her, yet drastically older than myself. "Hello, Bella," she whispered

"Hi, Angela," I whispered back.

We hugged briefly before catching each other up; or rather she caught me up on her life, in fifteen minutes or less.

Apparently the reason that Edward and I hadn't seen anyone else we recognized was due to the majority of them moving away.

Mike Newton and Jessica got married and two years ago Newton Outfitters finally became a northern classic. They own several stores in quite a few states. They moved, along with both of their families, to Oregon to be in the center of the "mogul machine." Edward laughed behind me at that.

Lauren and Tyler, two people that I did not remember at all, had apparently moved to Seattle for school and never came back. Angela didn't know if they were together or not, nor did she seem to care.

Eric Yorkie had moved to Hollywood shortly after graduation and was now one of the best special effects engineers in the movie making business. The name was familiar more than anything else, and I'm pretty positive that it was due to various movie credits versus my own personal time spent with him.

The rest of the graduating class has dispersed as well over the years. It seems that the town where no one ever left, had a mass exodus within a few years of our class graduating.

Angela started to get fidgety as we concluded the catch-up process, but I didn't think anything of it until Edward came up behind me, supporting me.

"I've moved up the corporate latter. I'm a legal console now," she started, "nothing too high-powered, mostly legal documents." I nodded.

Ben came up behind her and handed her a large brown envelope. The label was small, but I easily read it; _Isabella Marie Swan, or closest living relative with legal documentation and proof_.

"This is for you. My contact info is inside, not that you couldn't find me, I'm sure…" She smiled in Edward's direction. "My children either enjoyed, or are enjoying, their college educations by the way," she murmured.

~X~

We were staying in the Cullen house for a night before heading back to Canada. I was anxious to get back and I knew they were anxious to see us as well, but Edward and I needed time alone before we went back to the fray, as much as I loved it.

Edward was sitting on the couch with me straddling his lap, my head under his chin as he rubbed my back. We had been sitting like this for hours before one of us spoke.

"You know what it is, right?" I didn't have to classify what I meant for him.

"I do."

"Is it bad?" I asked.

He was quiet for a few moments. "I don't look at it that way. I don't think you will either."

I nodded, leaning back to look him in the eyes. I stroked my hand down his cheek, seeing the love for me there. "I should open it, shouldn't I?" His smile was the only response I got. I held out my hands palm up and within a second the envelope was there from where it had been on the arm of the couch.

"You can take your time, Bella…" He whispered as my eyes still gazed upon the weight in my hands.

I took a breath. "I think the time has come…" I slid my finger below the crease in the seal, breaking it instantly.

The contents were a book, or at least as many pages of paper that would make a book. As I read the cover page, I was confused, but then I got to a line that spelled the meaning out for me.

… _the state of Washington grants all of Charles Swan's possessions and assets into the name of Isabella Marie Swan at the time of his death…_

**A/N: Whoa, that was longer than any other chapter and I intended it to be that way, I felt I was dragging a bit and I couldn't bear to drag the sadness out for two chapters. We should be getting happier after this point… Anyone know where we're going now… one person said it was too easy, but they were totally right… believe I have too many ideas and some that I can't wait to write.**

**Coming up… different POV… I know who it will be, but who are to interested in seeing… we'll see ;)**

**As usual, tell me the song and I will send a teaser as soon as I have one ready ;)**

**Now review, please! ;)**

**~kmwhyte**


	6. My Girl is Ready to Take Control

**I own: a three day ticket to Disney World that has two valid days left… I'm going again in February with of my best friends… YAY!**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**EPOV (Edward)**

You could tell on her face exactly when she realized what this paperwork met. She was the sole heir to Charlie's meager fortune, if you could classify it as such.

The house and the few financial stocks and bonds were all that Charlie left besides the sentimental possessions. Of course, that's what Bella would be most interested in after she got over the initial shock of it all.

"Oh my god… no... Why would he do this…?" Her voice was hushed, barely above a whisper. She wasn't speaking to me; she was asking herself the question. I let my finger go under her chin and lifted up. When her eyes met mine, she looked pleading. "It's all mine?" I nodded, still holding her delicate chin. "But… why?"

I tilted my head and licked my lips before attempting to explain in a way that, at least, I understood. "Speaking as a father… there's nothing I wouldn't do for Renesmee, you know that. Even if she left us, even if we never saw her again… I'd still give everything I had to her, whether she needed it or not. Charlie was your father and he never stopped loving you; you were his daughter. That bond does not break easily, if at all."

She bit her lip and I worked my thumb over it to try and loosen her hold. She shook her head, "But… Sue?"

I nodded to her question. "I can't explain everything, Bella. But, you should know… I know from Angela's thoughts that there is a letter. To you, from Charlie." Her lips opened into a small 'o.'

**BPOV (Bella)**

A letter…

This just gets better, doesn't it? More cliché and confusing…

I stared into Edward's eyes, wondering if this could get any more puzzling. "Do you know what it says?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I'll let you read it. Come find me afterwards, when you're ready. I'll be around." He went to kiss my forehead, but I held him in place.

"Why would you leave me?" It was irrational; I am aware of that. He wasn't _leaving_ me, but with all the new developments, the last thing I wanted was for him to leave me alone, even for a few minutes to read a letter.

"… I thought, that maybe, you would like the privacy…" He murmured, as he attempted to gauge my reaction.

I turned my body around so that my back was to his chest and I searched the booklet of papers until I found the so called 'letter.' As I worked, I spoke softly, "no more secrets, Edward. You should know that by now..." He leaned in to kiss my neck and wrapped his arms around me. I could feel him smiling behind me.

I took a deep breath and began to read.

_Bells,_

_If you reading this (damn, that's familiar) then I'm dead and Angela has got some crazy connections. I still don't really believe that she'll get this to you, but she insisted that I write a letter to explain my decisions. She claims it's how these things are done…_

_Well, here it is: You're my daughter and that's all there is to it. The house and everything else in it, along with whatever money I got, is yours to use, sell, or save. It doesn't really matter to me; it's whatever you choose. I'll be fine with it, Bells, I swear._

_You're probably wondering why I'm not leaving it, or at least some of it, to Sue or your step-siblings. Well, that's easy; you're blood, you're my baby. Sue doesn't want anything except what she's surely already taken back to her old house where Leah and Seth have lived since she came back to my house. Don't worry, we talked about it at great lengths, she agrees with me._

_I'm sure you don't need money, or the house, what with mister fancy Edmond keeping you with him and all, which is why you can do anything you want with it. The stuff inside is the same; do whatever you want with it._

_I love ya Bells,_

_Dad_

_P.S. Just in case you actually get this, I feel I have to say this, write this. I'm not mad at you and I'm crazy grateful that you are being taken care of. I just wish I could see it for myself. Tell him to keep you safe, or I'll haunt his idiot ass. Keep safe, and happy; that's all I wanted for ya._

That's all he wrote. I guess it was longer than I even expected from Charlie, but honestly, I was waiting for a confession like he knew about the wolves, or me, or hell Renesmee. I don't know.

I sagged against Edward, laying my head back on his shoulder.

"So what do you want to do with it all, Love?" He asked.

**Back to present time (Hope it's not too confusing)**

"You've made up your mind, haven't you, Love?" Edward whispered in my ear low enough that we were the only ones in the house having this conversation.

I sighed, feeling the weight leave my body with the decision I had just determined.

The truth was I had always known what I was going to do, I just wasn't sure it was feasible.

_We are going to Forks…_

I turned and looked at Edward, smiling while I ran my fingers down the back of his head to the nape of his neck, playing with the strands of hair there. "We're going home…" I whispered, and he kissed me.

He pulled back. He began to pull the covers over our bodies, pulling me closely so I knew of his intentions. "It's about time we went back…"

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

_We're going to Forks! We're going to Forks! We're Going To Forks!_ I sung playfully in my head as I started to pack my most prized possessions; my scrapbook, Mom and Dad's wedding photo, Dad's CD of compositions, Mom's Romero and Juliet book, the charm bracelet from Rose…

I would be packing more, of course, but these were things I refused to not carry myself. The rest could be shipped or even put in storage, but this stuff meant something to me.

I couldn't believe we were going to Forks… I wanted to squeal… hell, I had squealed…

Wolves, legends, history…

The beginning of mom and dad, of Bella and Edward, of me…

How could I not be thrilled with this conclusion when Alice came barreling in ten minutes ago to tell me the decision was finally made.

I couldn't wait to see what Forks had in store for all of us, especially for me…

**A/N: Aww, I little of Renesmee… and Charlie. I hope this answers many questions and brings up many, many more.**

**No one guessed the last reference so I'll share… One by U2… I was actually a little disappointed that no one got that one. Oh well, try this one and I'll send a teaser when it's presentable ;)**

**Now review, please! ;)**

**~kmwhyte**


	7. You've Got to be What Tomorrow Needs

**I own (rent, whatever…) : a disgusting apartment that I should clean, but instead I'm writing, you all should love me ;)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**BPOV (Bella)**

I turned to rinse the conditioner out of my hair, angling my head under the spray. I ran my fingers through the tendrils helping to cleanse it from the sweet-smelling lotion.

It was only when I felt another set of fingers that I brought myself out of my current line of thinking, but I didn't speak. Turning my head, I saw Edward's faint smile before he turned my head back to finish rinsing my hair without my aide.

Once my hair was fully clean, Edward straightened me up and pulled me back into him until my back was pressed against his naked chest. This was not a position that I was new to, in many ways, but at the moment this was his way of comforting me more than anything.

It must have only been a few minutes, but it felt like hours before either of us make a move or spoke a word. "The rest are almost packed…" he whispered in my ear. I couldn't help my laugh.

I turned, placing my arms around his shoulders, lifting up to press my lips to his. I smiled, pulling back, but still pressing my forehead to his own. "I only told _you _ten hours ago, how could they work that quickly…" I trailed off, suddenly realizing that I should know by now that nothing stops Alice and Esme when they have a mission to accomplish; add my daughter to the mix and Edward and I stand no chance of prolonging the inevitable, not that I really wanted to.

I smiled before pressing my mouth to Edward's hungrily, quickly for just a minute and then turning to walk out of the shower, completely naked sans towel, and into our bedroom leaving Edward alone under the spray. "Well, I guess I better start packing… enjoy your shower, Edward…" I laughed at the growl that he let loose, silently loving it.

~X~

The room was packed before Edward was even dressed, or at least the parts that I wanted to pack; the clothes that I didn't want Edward or I to lose, the few possessions from Edward and I's lives that we valued more than most, and then our laptops. Everything else was expendable; the bedding, the artwork, the furniture… They was all just things to us.

I walked out into the hallway while Edward tried to find a shirt and pants to wear that I hadn't already packed away in one of the suitcases.

I was immediately accosted by my own daughter as I closed the bedroom door behind me. "Forks, Mom? Seriously, we're going to Forks? Yes, I can NOT wait to get there!" She squealed… she did that a lot now that she and Alice hung out every moment they could.

"Renemsee, calm down." I spoke softly so she was paying attention, but you could see her head bobbing slightly as she waited for me to continue. "You know we're going, but we still need to talk about the logistics, okay? Why don't you go gather the rest of the family and-"

I was cut off by the sound of our front door opening, followed by Emmett's roaring laughter blaring in from my living room. "Hey, Bella, Eddie, Nes; when do we leave?"

~X~

We convened in Edward and I's living room. Esme and Carlisle sat in the two smaller sized arm chairs closest to the fireplace smiling kindly, while Edward and I shared the overstuffed chair off to the side of the kitchen. Renesmee sat snuggled in between Alice and Emmett as Rose perched on Emmett's lap and Jasper stood behind the couch, looking pensive.

I spared him a small smile and he immediately sent me his assurance. He was nervous about going back to Forks, but he wasn't upset.

Carlisle cleared his throat, gaining all of our attentions within seconds. "Jasper and I have researched and discussed the issue in great lengths and it truly appears that the people of Forks that would pose a problem are either deceased or advanced on other courses. The major worry was your remaining classmates, but the Cheneys know enough that we can be safe and the rest have left throughout the years. The hospital staff is a bit of a concern, but there is a small practice opening up in Port Angeles and I could use the change of pace.

Carlisle must of interpreted my look of concern and quickly spoke up. "Trust me, Bella; I can help many people there. I am anxious to try this particular avenue." I nodded my head. "As for the back story, that's where we will change a bit.

The corner of Edward's lips quirked up a bit before his placed his head into my neck and barked a laugh. I ran my right hand through his hair. "That good? Or that bad?" I asked.

"Just wait…" he muttered.

We all looked at Carlisle expediently. "Well, alright, then. We cannot go back as the Cullens; it raises too many questions so we will need to choose another name to adapt with." Rosalie's whole body perked up, before Carlisle continued. "However, Rose, we cannot follow the order we normally do. I realize that, technically, Hale would be the next name we would take on, but we have used that name in Forks before and it's just too risky."

"Are you kidding me?" Rosalie seethed. "We used it over a hundred years ago. No one would care at all. You just want to skip my turn!"

Emmett rubbed up and down her back, but she shook him off. "Rose, you know that is not it." Esme tried to console her, but Rosalie wouldn't listen to any of it.

"Of course. We do not re-use names in towns and Forks is especially important to that rule. We will come back to your name next time around, but for the time being, the majority of us, will be-"

"McCartys!" Emmett bellowed, to all of our chagrin.

Carlisle frowned, before recovering quite nicely. "… Well, yes."

**A/N: Some family time, awww. It will be continued next time. Gotta see the full plan come to fruition!**

**What is the musical reference to the chapter title? Answer correctly and win a teaser whenever it's ready :)**

**Now review, please! ;)**

**~kmwhyte**


	8. You've Got to See What Tomorrow Brings

**I own : bright blue fingernails that my friends made me get done yesterday. I seriously look like I'm 12 if you only looked at my nails… FML**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**EPOV (Edward)**

"_McCartys!" Emmett bellowed, to all of our chagrin._

_Carlisle frowned, before recovering quite nicely. "… Well, yes."_

Emmett was enjoying this, far too much, I must add. This was something he lived for; we all got our chances to use our former last names in this charade now and again. And in all fairness, we all enjoyed it a bit, but Emmett was always ecstatic about it more so than the others, besides Rosalie of course. There would be hours spent trying to sway Ms. Hale to lose the pouting façade, but Emmett wouldn't mind in the least, I'm sure.

I saw her glare at his eagerness, but he was too thrilled to notice for the time being. He would notice later, however, when he was kicked out their bedroom as I already heard her planning in her mind.

Carlisle continued on. "As I was saying before, we need to alter our back story for the people of Forks. Esme and I will of course be married and Alice and Emmett will be our children, adopted, as always. I'll let you decide if you would like to be married off or not, but Jasper and Rose will both be going by Whitlock"

Rosalie huffed, grudgingly, but Carlisle continued as if he hadn't noticed her at all. "I think for this trip, to alleviate some commonalities, Edward will pose as my brother; so you will also be a McCarty." Emmett snickered. "Bella and Renesmee, as weird as this will sound; I want you to pose as Bella's own children."

Renesmee was following along up until this piece of information. "Huh?"

Carlisle smiled at his granddaughter; a smile that he reserved only for her. "It's out of purpose more than anything, my dear. We will need there to be a tie between Charlie and yourselves and Bella cannot, obviously, go back to Forks as herself. However, she has changed enough and you resemble her as well, so we can say that you are her children that Charlie hadn't met; that no one had met."

Bella just smiled and shook her head. "But Angela knows that it's me? And she'd be the only one needing for me to prove that I'm a relative…"

I grasped her hand tightly. "True as that it, Love, Angela will need documentation to give you everything legally that belonged to Charlie and we don't need to get her in trouble. Jasper can get identification for you and Nes that proves you're who we say you are." I smiled, before kissing her forehead.

She nodded, but I saw the glare she aimed at me. Apparently, my phrasing was not appreciated. I slowly stroked my fingers up her arm, spelling out my apologies with my fingers against her skin. While she didn't acknowledge my movements, I saw a slight smile tilt her lips upward.

"Precisely," Carlisle continued once again. "Edward and Bella would be married when we return and Renesmee would be Bella's sister who lives with them. The Bella Swan that Forks knows would be deceased for our story, but if you weren't, then you would have no way of being appointed the next of kin." Carlisle spared a mournful look in Bella's direction, but her smile dismissed it immediately.

"I understand."

"Wait, wait, wait," Emmett chuckled beside me, standing slowly and then raising his hand as if he was in a classroom. "Does this mean that Bella is a McCarty too? Oh man, this is just too good. Everyone's enjoying being a McCarty this time around!"

Jasper spoke up, "I thankfully am not, and I think Alice and I should just go ahead and claim to be married so she can dodge said bullet." Alice giggled, but nodded her head in agreement.

"Party pooper," Emmett grumbled.

"Well, Renesmee will be a Swan still and I think I will stick with Whitlock for a while," Emmett shot Rosalie a shocked look, but she continued. "I personally don't feel like I'm ready to be with just one man for the rest of my life. We'll take it slow, Em…" She whispered the last part lowly, but we all heard her perfectly clear.

While the rest of us laughed uncontrollably, Esme tried to interrupt with a comment of her own, but Carlisle tried to reign in the family to finish our meeting seeing as how it was ending in comedic comments at Emmett's expense. "Well, unless anyone else has any other objections, I think we are about done here. Esme and I will be leaving in the next day to head back and get some things squared away, and then you all can follow whenever you would like."

"_Maybe a family vacation is in order?"_ Bella shared with me. I nodded, bringing her hand to my lips quickly.

"One question?" Renesmee asked. "Does this mean I'm the only one in high school again? Or do I actually get to work for a change?" She looked so hopeful, but Carlisle squashed said hope too quickly for her taste.

"Sorry, my dear, you _will_ be attending Forks High, but we'll enroll you as a senior if that makes any difference to you." Unfortunately, Renesmee was not appeased.

~X~

**BPOV (Bella)**

"So what do you have in mind, Love? Paris? London? Isle Esme, again?" Edward whispered into my ear as he brought his arms around my waist.

I had just drained a rather large wolf and discarded the body in a shallow river bed that had dried up months ago when the season had changed. Edward had been off tracking his own wolf, but he was quite a bit quicker on the kill than I was; there was just something about hunting that particular animal over any others that bothered me. I blame my step-brother.

"Well?" Edward brought me back from my thoughts.

"I'm not sure. There's still so much we haven't seen together, or as a family with Renesmee. Yet, obviously you have your own preferences," I snickered, slipping out of his grasp and running to the end of the river where water was starting to collect and began rinsing my hands.

He followed behind, nearly beating me. "Preferences aside, I simply want to spend time with my beautiful wife and our lovely daughter. We can go anywhere, Love, all you need to do is say the word, you know that…" He trailed off tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

**A/N: So what do you think about the new back story. I love how Rosalie is holding a grudge, it's a bit petty, but come on, it's Rose. I love her, I truly do, but I think she does it on purpose sometimes.**

**I suck at supplying teasers and I want to specifically apologize to kkmomo3 who guessed that the last chapter was based off a song from My Chemical Romance and then got no payout. I intended to send a teaser, but then I got distracted with another story and many, many RL things. Once I got started on supplying a teaser, I ended up being ready to post an entire chapter. So, again, sorry, and I will no longer offer unless I have them already made and ready to send.**

**However, I am still thinking and re-thinking about where Edward, Bella, and Renesmee will go on vacation. It will happen next chapter and as you can imagine if I don't know where they are going, it may be while. But, you all can help me out, tell me where you want to see the three of them, I may use it ;)**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	9. Got No Direction, Just Got my Vamp

**I own : two boxes of the nasty type of Valentine's candy that I hate, but I'm in of need chocolate so much that I'm about to try it just in case.**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**FYI : The place where Edward, Bella and Renesmee are headed is called South of the Border. Think of it as a hotel/mini-town/tourist trap. It's basically a place to sleep, eat, shop, and act like a tourist all at one time and in one place. Enjoy… and yes I've been here… more times than I care to admit.**

**BPOV (Bella)**

"I am not staying here." Edward leaned forward closer to the windshield of the Volvo, while Renesmee giggled from the backseat. He had been saying this over and over since we saw the first billboard. The next hundred of them only made him more displeased. I was tempted to join her, but I knew that one wrong word from me and Edward would just keep driving. He leaned back in his seat and looked over to me. "Seriously, Bella, no; it's not happening…"

He was just so… serious. I bit my lip, turning my head to fight my smile while he couldn't see.

"Did you hear me? This is not where we are staying." He straightened his shoulders and spoke once more as if that would make a damn difference. He was staying, and he damn well knew it. "I mean it, Bella."

Sure…

I rolled my eyes, before turning to face him again, laying my hand over his on the gear shift where it was already planted. "We both know that you are getting off at this exit. Just give it a chance; you may like it."

He huffed, getting on the off ramp. "I highly doubt that…" he muttered.

I turned to look at Renesmee and she just shook her head before bouncing closer to the window. I could feel her excitement, even without Jasper's ability; it was obvious.

South of the Border here we come…

~X~

Renesmee went into her own room next door as I was opening my and Edward's door. He was grumbling about the way the native motel manager had gawked and flirted, badly I might add; with both Renesmee and me.

Edward put our three thousand dollar bags down by the rusted air conditioner, groaned at the sight, and then walked into the bathroom.

Within twenty seconds, and a few muted bangs and hisses, he was glaring at me. "There is not a power strong enough in the world to make me use that bathroom if I had the ability, Bella, even you and Renesmee don't hold that much authority over me." I tilted an eyebrow up and he quickly retreated. "Well… Alice couldn't force me…"

"Uh huh…" I murmured, following him to the bed. He sat on the edge and as I went to sit next to him, he scooped me into his lap. I smiled before I realized that he was merely stopping me from coming in contact with the stained sheets.

"You're not sitting on this bed. It's repulsive…" I shook my head, burying it in his shoulder. "I'm trying, I swear, but Bella… I mean, my god, did you see the bullet hole in the window?"

I stroked the back of his neck, trying to keep him calm for the evening. "Edward…" I murmured near his ear. He wanted to give Renesmee and I the best and this was far from it, but I wanted to do it exactly this way. This is the way my mom and I had traveled when I was young. We didn't stay in fancy hotels that cost a month's mortgage for one night's stay. We stayed at kitschy little po-dunk places that felt like they were twenty years past their renovation dates.

This place was just like those places.

"…It's taking all I have no to whisk you and Nes out of here to the nearest five star hotel." I nodded again. "…to think she's going to be sleeping on a bed like this one, or worse…"

I laughed, as he groaned. "What's going to happen to us, Edward?" He shook his head. "As hard as it is for you to fathom, none of us can be hurt by mildew, mold, or, even, bullets. Just relax." I put both my hands on his cheeks and pulled his lips to mine.

That shut him up.

~X~

The kiss only got so far. Edward had rushed me out the door when I attempted to pull his body over mine.

He literally never let me touch the sheets.

I gripped his hand in mine as we walked through the trashy, little shops that had more style than most of Alice's clothes; at least in _my_ opinion. I personally loved the Mexican bobble head with his ass covered in cactus needles. Edward made a horrendous face when I purchased one for each of our family members.

_At least Emmett will love it…_ My thought cracked a smile on Edward's face.

By two in the morning, Edward had pulled me into the forest to hunt, before we went back to get Renesmee and continue on to Florida…

**A/N: I'm combining two of my favorite suggestions from your reviews for the last chapter. One smart person talked about going to Florida and another one mentioned that having the Cullens visit tourist locations that usually only the typical American family would might be interesting… I agree! **

**Hey, this is what came from it. I personally have been to South of the Border… many times. And I actually would side with Edward entirely, but my parents and brother always loved it. And just for the record… I stand by the fact that there was a bullet hole in the window. Rocks don't make perfectly round holes… no jagged edges, Mom!**

**But, either way, in case you are interested: South of the Board is located South Carolina and the website is… nicer than I remember the place… but in all fairness, it was ten years ago ;)**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	10. We Can Get Around This

**I own : $200 worth of new clothes that I wanted desperately… and I really am tempted to get more :)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

We were about ten minutes, by our standards, out of Orlando, but with the way Mom was driving, we would be there in seven minutes at the very most even with traffic. She had been like this since we left Jacksonville; actually, if I'm being honest, she has been like this since we crossed the Florida state line. Her emotions would put Uncle Jasper in the corner huddling for comfort.

It had nothing to do with being in the sunshine state and everything to do with seeing Grandma Renee; not that we actually _saw_ her in person. We were close to ten feet away each time we saw her over the last three days, but she was none the wiser. _She was definitely flighty._

Mom wanted to make sure she was well, and happy, and I knew it was because she was feeling guilty for not "seeing" her and Grandpa Charlie in thirty years. I couldn't really understand, but Dad seemed to coax her thoughts from her as she locked eyes with him for the fortieth time this ride. _It was really grating on my nerves to be the child in the background…_

I could tell she was having a silent conversation with him, and I was immediately tempted to sneak a touch to catch what they were discussing. Dad's quick glance in my direction set me against the idea though. It kind of sucks to have a mind-reading father… especially when he smirked liked that at my thoughts… _ugh_!

Over the last few years I had gotten really good at getting glimpses into others' minds. It was Uncle Jasper's idea that because my gift was a bit of a reversal of my parents' abilities that it might be able to be reversed completely if I practiced enough. I think he and Grandpa Carlisle had researched past vampire histories too much when they found out about Mom and I… honestly, it was always some new theory or other.

I still needed practice at it to really catch what I wanted; mostly I would catch a person's last current thought, which usually consisted of people wondering why I was concentrating so hard while touching them. _It was annoying on many levels._ But, it was becoming easier, especially with Mom and Dad, and they knew it. They didn't keep a guard up with me like the others and that had them leery of touching me when they didn't want to include me in on a conversation.

I huffed as I pulled my knees up to my chest, watching the tourist shops and kitschy restaurants wiz by as we drove down the strip.

"Why exactly are we headed to Disney, again?" I asked, avoiding the topic of Mom's melancholy.

Dad smiled, tracing circles on Mom's palm that lay open on the center console. "We're not doing Disney, exactly… there's just something I want you and your mother to experience before… we get back into the façade." He smiled knowingly, and I huffed at not knowing what was going on.

I wasn't a fan of surprises. It wasn't that I disliked them, in fact, I loved when anyone actually surprised me with a gift or outing or some new piece of information; it was more that I didn't like the feeling of being left out of the loop. And that was what I was fighting here. I knew that Aunt Alice was helping Dad to arrange this… "surprise," but I couldn't get out of her what the surprise was. Nine phones calls and thirteen texts left me with no other answer than; _sorry sweetie, but you'll love it._

Jeez, I know I'll love it, that's not the point!

Mom turned onto the roundabout that led into the Disney properties, and I saw the tiny smile light up her face as she saw the classic characters welcoming us to Disney World. I giggled at the pure joy it caused in her. _A vampire secretly still worshipping Disney, who would've guessed?_

Dad laughed loudly at my thoughts and Mom glared at us both. "Shut up, you two, I can't help that Mickey still makes me smile…" She shook her head as Dad and I continued to laugh at her expense. "Fine, be that way. Where the hell am I going here, Edward?" she sighed while changing lanes and scanning the various directional signs to hotels and attractions, along with the parks themselves.

Dad continued to trace upon her palm. "Head towards Epcot, Love, then park by tour buses." She nodded, changing lanes once again.

Once we got to the entrance of Epcot, Dad was texting like mad and I could only assume it was to Aunt Alice or someone else associated with the surprise. Again, I was so flipping tempted to touch him for just the smallest bit of information. His threatening, you-try-it-and-you-are-grounded, smile made me flip my head around in annoyance. _How is it that I'm thirty years old and my Dad threatening me causing me to get scared, jeez almighty!_

Once we were parked, I jumped out of the car, looking around for some sign that I knew what was happening, but I only saw a man in light clothes and a nametag holding a sign reading 'Cullen' standing next to a plastic-covered golf cart to protect it against the elements. I looked over to Dad and he simply smiled, murmuring a "shall we?" while leading Mom over by the hand.

The ride was silent except for Mom leaning on Dad's shoulder whispering her recent thanks in his ear. They were both completely distracted, while I was frantically looking around as we were driven behind the scenes and into the park. Other tourists were hot and sweaty, looking like they had spend more than eight hours "doing Disney" with envy in their eyes as they watched us drive past in cool comfort.

I tried to zone out my parents in the backseat, while focusing my attention on Gregg from Plant City, Florida sitting next to me steering the Disney themed contraption. "So, where are we headed, exactly?"

I heard Dad growl, but he didn't stray from Mom's neck as I continued to bat my eyelashes at Gregg who was probably closer to my actual age versus the one on my forged driver's license.

"We're headed to one of our most popular attractions, miss; just as your family requested for you all to experience." He smiled, turning past some glass doors and into a small loading dock, before leading us from the cart to a back entrance of whatever "attraction" we were going to.

I glared from _Gregg_ to Dad, but was only greeted with a knowing smile. He must have planned that as well…

We were led through four doors within several minutes and even with my overactive brain I was having difficulty deciphering where we were headed. Mom had fallen back with me while Dad walked directly behind _Gregg._ "Don't be upset with your father, he's excited about this." I nodded, linking my arm with hers. "It takes a lot to surprise us, you know that." Again, I nodded, hanging on to her tightly, smiling despite my frustration.

As we waited for an elevator to reach our floor, I turned my face to Mom's. "How are you?"

She smiled, shaking her head. "I wish you two would stop asking me that… I should be taking care of you." She smiled sadly, pushing a curl behind my ear. "I'm fine." I titled my head, showing her that I didn't totally believe her. "Well, I will be. You two are making sure of that, now would you just make your father happy and be patient. I'm sure we'll find out soon what he's been planning." I nodded, entering the elevator with her hand in hand; Dad smiling all the while.

Once we exited the elevator, we were greeted by a blond woman wearing a flight attendant's uniform welcoming us to _Soarin'_.

I looked at Dad and his smile was as wide as mine.

We followed her through the back doors to the ride itself. "… like I said, there is already a show in progress, but your party will be seated in just a few moments. When you go in, you are free to sit wherever you would like, however the seats in row two in the center aisle are the most ideal. Would you like to see the intro video that our other guests view while waiting?" Mom nodded, smiling surely at the way the blond couldn't take her eyes off of Dad. _I don't know how the hell she dealt with _that_…_

After the supposedly "funny" flight safety video ended, we were lead into the so-called theatre. "You are welcome to place your bags on the floor or in the nets. The seat belts with unlock at the end of the ride when you press the yellow knob. Enjoy _Soarin'._" Turning to leave, she quickly looked to our feet and spoke only to me. "It is best if you leave your flip flops on the floor during the attraction, trust me." She smiled.

Dad sat in the middle-most seat with Mom and me on each side of him. I placed my shoes on the floor in front of me, even though I thought it was ridiculous. _Why would I need to lose my shoes, I had semi-vampire strength, I should be able to hold my light blue sandals on my feet with my toes…_

Dad tapped my wrist twice, nodding to the seat belt. _"Why did you want us to come to Orlando just for this?"_ I asked mentally.

Dad spoke to both to Mom and me, "I brought you here for the simple reason that we don't get the option of hang gliding in sunny California; not without drawing some serious attention, at least. And when we were visiting Renee, she had recently come back from an anniversary vacation with Phil where she rode this ride." He turned to see Mom's confused face. "She couldn't stop thinking about how much she liked it; how much _you _would've liked it."

Their foreheads touched as the seats lifted to the air and I instantly focused my attention on the large IMAX screen in front of my eyes. The scenes were breathtaking, amazing even. I could feel the wind as we flew over the Golden Gate Bridge. I smelled the aroma of the orange fields. I felt the salty breeze as we soared over the waves of the ocean. "Wow…" I whispered after a few moments.

"It's amazing…" Mom murmured.

"Just like my girls," Dad sighed as the show neared its end with a return to Disneyland in California signifying the end of _Soarin'._

**A/N: I'm sorry, you have no right to excuse my lateness, but I blame the lack of updates on three things; being sick as a dog, having 25 1****st**** graders that demand my attention and then enjoying my Spring Break away from them, and lastly, going to Disney. Oh, and writer's block is a serious drag as well ;)**

**Anyways, thanks for those who continue to read, review and support me in this crazy story. I'm so excited to get back to Forks… most is planned in my head and I just can't wait to get there so we will be leaving Florida and going back next chapter.**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	11. Hometown Glory

**I own : a full tank of gas so I can head to my parents' for two weeks, sans parents… maybe some writing will get done :)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**BPOV (Bella)**

This is surreal; driving by the 'Welcome to Forks' sign and knowing that I'm actually coming back for… well for as long as we could reasonably stay.

Renesmee was texting nonstop in the backseat, to Alice I assumed. All the while, I was having a minor panic attack as Edward kept his right hand laced with mine as he drove. The sights were faded in my memories, except for the few times I had been back since turning immortal, but it all cemented itself into my memory as the tattered memories registered as actual places.

It wasn't until we reached the fern covered driveway that I realized we were so close to our family, the familiar scent was beyond my comprehension as we rode in silence. I caught a glimpse of the back of Emmett as he raced on one side of the car holding two machetes at the sides of his body, cutting back the over-growth.

Nes laughed as he spun quickly, chopping twice the amount that was needed in a quick, vampire-speed show. Edward murmured some derogatory word, which he promptly apologized for once he caught my glare.

Once we pulled up to the house, all doors were flung open; Alice at Renesmee's door, Emmett at Edward's, and Esme at mine.

I watched as Renesmee ran up the stairs hand in hand with Alice so she could see the house with new eyes since she hadn't seen it since she was three.

Esme's arm wrapped around my back as she pulled me close. "How was the trip?"

"It was good to see that she was alright, and the sightseeing eased the stress a bit…" I summarized, not wanting to get into anything too heavy when the heaviest obstacle was coming up too soon.

"We have rooms for you all of course, but if you would rather head over to Charlie's we understand…" And she did, I knew that.

I nodded, turning to see Edward's eyes on me. "Yeah, I think we're going to head over there now, actually."

"Not without me!" Renesmee hollered from the third story window, before she was in front of me moments later.

I nodded, thinking an 'of course' for Edward's benefit. He covered a laugh, before looking over at Alice. She tossed me a set of silver keys, which I caught without so much as a thought. "I picked up the keys from Angela yesterday… honestly, you would have thought she was seeing a damn ghost. I would've thought she would have been a little more open since she knew that the three of you didn't age, but no, she reacted exactly how I saw it; completely tongue-tied."

Edward groaned, fighting a knowing-smirk. "Alice. If you knew how'd she react, why were you even surprised? Or better yet, why didn't you just let Bella or I pick up the keys? Angela's anxiety could have been avoided."

Alice huffed, "As if you didn't know, Edward… I picked up the keys because I _knew _Bella would want to go to Charlie's when you all got back and she wouldn't want to wait or go see Angela just yet when she hadn't gotten settled. Besides, the surprise for me is more that Angela didn't get over the shock immediately. By the way Bella told us the story of Nes' birth, she was on board quickly; you'd think she would be keyed into the weird…"

Esme laughed at Alice's confusion. "She's nearly fifty years old with three nearly grown children. I think she's accepted quite a bit without explanation. She couldn't have known that any of the rest of us were like the three of them, she had no reason to assume it."

Alice nodded, but still obviously disappointed. "Either way, she wants you to come over with Renesmee one evening. She's dying to see her in person…"

I nodded, pulling Renesmee closer to my side.

~X~

Pulling up to the white two-story was causing an ache in my chest that hadn't been present since I got the call from Sue that Charlie was dying. I could see my Dad in the upstairs window watching me leave for school or him standing by the shed pulling out trimmers to spruce up the sparse landscaping.

I was honestly starting to think he was actually there and I had to physically restrain myself by holding the door handle so I didn't run over to the figment. Edwards gentle taps on my thigh brought me back to the time we were really in. "Are we gonna go in, Mom?" Renesmee asked from the backseat, just itching to jump out of the car.

I nodded, putting myself into autopilot.

The strength I used to shut the car door, the speed I used to reach the front porch, and the way I jumped effortlessly from the bottom step to the front door was something I didn't even think about, nor did it register why Edward and Nes stood behind me blocking my movements from any possible outsiders. Leaning in closely, Edward whispered, "Love, try to keep the… _movements_ human until we get inside. We don't need the neighbors more questioning that they already will be."

I nodded once while slowly putting the key into the lock and turning it until the door opened with a jerk. I couldn't seem to help walking in as slowly as possible and it was minutes before I heard Edward shutting the door behind me. I felt Renesmee at my back, gasping as she took in the sight of a few family pictures hung over the mantle several feet away. She rushed ahead of me, carefully pulling my senior picture off the wall.

"Renesmee, why don't we let your mother lead the way here?" Edward scolded from beside me.

Renesmee turned, looking apologetic, however I spoke up. "No, no, it's fine. It's actually better that she looks around herself; I'm too overwhelmed to have the _both_ of you hovering." I smiled, before grasping Edward's hand and leading him into the kitchen. "Look around all you like, baby, just let me go upstairs first, okay?" Renesmee nodded, looking quite pleased with my invitation to snoop.

I walked through the kitchen, quickly, a bit disappointed to find the yellow cabinets and old Formica countertops replaced with a light blue finish and a beautiful marble counter. The appliances were all white and replaced from when I had been the one cooking here. I huffed, before deciding to skip the rest of the downstairs and headed straight for the second floor.

Out of the three doors upstairs, only one was shut. A quick glance told me that the bathroom had the same alterations that the kitchen had. Also, Charlie's room seemed to have changed a great deal as well, but I wasn't interested in that. I would assume Sue would make herself at home here. It was perfectly natural for her to update the house with the times and to her own liking. I had done that in the houses I had lived in, it was inevitable.

And as much as I knew that, I was terrified that my room had taken a thrashing because of it.

Edward tightened his grip, and I, almost for moment, forgot he was still holding on to me.

I reached for the doorknob, twisting tightly. As the door swung open, I let out a giant, unnecessary breath.

It was the same; exactly the same.

The purple bedspread.

The bulletin board of, now tattered, pictures and notes from family and friends.

A stack of books lying on the desk next to the ancient printer.

Hell, the pile of folded laundry by the closet was still sitting in the basket.

"It's like… it's like no one has ever been in here since…" I whispered.

Edward walked ahead, sitting lightly on the bed, without ruffling the covers. "Bella, I don't think anyone ever has come in here since you left. I don't smell any other scents, do you?" I shook my head. "Dads and daughters, Bella…" He murmured, while pulling me to stand in between his spread legs.

"Talk to me, Love…" He begged, as I placed my hands on his shoulders, but still letting my eyes wander all over the room.

"I didn't expect this…" I took a deep breath. "I expected all my stuff in boxes, pushed back into the far corner. Maybe, stuffed into the closet even. Jesus, I was almost expecting an office or sewing room of sorts, just not… _this_. I had painted a completely different picture in my head. The other rooms have subtle touches of familiarity of the past, but this room makes me feel like I stepped back in time. I mean, look at this bed!" I saw Edward smirk. "You know what I mean; it's the same one we conceived Renesmee in nearly thirty years ago, and you know as well as I do that it was old back then."

"Oh, geez, I'm staying down here… uhh!" I heard Renesmee groan as she descended the few stairs she had climbed.

Edward laughed, pulling me to sit across his lap, with my legs pulled into his left side. "As true as that is and as much as this bed is a symbol for us to a definite degree, I think a new bed for this room is in order before we actually move in. Don't you?" I nodded, laying my head on his shoulder. "Also… the picture you referred to is not possible, Bella. Charlie loved you more than anything in this world, you know that. And, speaking as a father, I know I would never give up on my daughter coming back to me if she were to leave. Why would Charlie be any different?"

I smiled, tracing his cheek with my fingers. "You're so smart, how'd I get so lucky?"

"Luck has nothing to do with it, Love, we're fate." He leaned, kissing me until I forgot to be sad.

**A/N: Wow, I'm super late again, but school is out and I'm headed back to my parents' house to dog sit for two weeks while they go on vacation, so I hope this is the last long break I take. I even got another idea for the plot that I'm really excited to write… hint: new character with a big connection to the Cullens :)**

**Anyways, thanks for those who continue to read, review and support me in this crazy story. **

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	12. This Territory is Uncharted

**I own : a full tank of gas so I can head to my parents' for two weeks, sans parents… maybe some writing will get done :)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

Pulling both the Disneyworld water globe and my miniature Eiffel Tower replica, I contemplated which I should place on the glass bedside table along with my framed photo of Mom, Dad, and I.

Such are the minor problems, according to Alice.

Before I placed the globe alongside the photo, I shifted the few other world figure replicas to accommodate the tower's placement. "Perfect," I whispered to myself.

Mom and Dad had headed over to Grandma's to get more boxes, while I busied myself decorating my/Grandpa Charlie's room to my liking. I had insisted from the very moment Mom said we were moving into the house that I would take Grandpa's room. Not only because I was completed creped out to be sleeping in the room I was… _created in_, but also, I wanted to feel closer to him.

What better way to achieve this than to occupy his former bedroom?

Besides, there weren't many other options unless I enjoyed sleeping on the couch or in the bathtub.

Stashing the now empty box I was working on unpacking outside my door, I pulled the next one onto my new queen-sized bed to begin unpacking it as well. The new bed was a necessity; there was no way in this century, or any other for that matter, that I was sleeping in the bed that Grandpa Charlie and his wife did the nasty in…

Oh for the love of God! Gross!

But, I digress… the tape gave way to my nails without any trouble and I didn't even try to fight the smile when I saw what the box contained: my memory books.

I had given up long ago on keeping just one book of my favorite photos and mementos. The first book, the one that was Daddy's favorite since it was how he learned all about me in the beginning, was nearly twenty years of memories and weighted a good ten pounds because of all the extra pages and bindings I had been forced to add to house the keepsakes.

I agree that it wasn't really a logical solution to the problem of remembering where you have been. Nope, that is why I had decided to made a book for each place we had resided, along with whatever places we visited in between.

I pulled the first, and largest, book out of the box, carefully, and placed it upon the cubed bookshelf that held the majority of my possessions. Walking faster than most humans, I went over to grab the next book, _Polson, Montana_. We lived there for three years. I had taken countless pictures of Flathead Lake on rainy days, cloudy days, and even the random sunny day when I was able to get away from the rest of the family. I also had pictures of Rachel, Natalie, and Kristen. They were the sweetest girls to me there. And of course, I had pictures of Cody and Jeffrey…

The next book I pulled out was _Odell, Oregon_. This particular book was the thinnest, seeing as we only lived there were just under a year. I didn't have as many friends there, well if I'm honest, I didn't any besides my family. I did have Matt at Mount Hood National Park, though…

I smiled, remembering his eyes; they matched the waters of Hood River perfectly.

Then, of course, was the _miscellaneous _book. It held memories of Alaska with Grandma and Grandpa, Isle Esme with Mom and Dad, Paris with Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper, and the Amazon with Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rose. Needless to say, the Amazon was Em's idea, not Rose's or mine. Three words: no running water. Vampires still want running water; just for your information.

The most recent book, _Dryden, Ontario_, was where we were last. Again, I didn't have too much of a social life except for the family, however, I did have a few notes that Mikel and I passed back and forth in Trig. He was sweetheart, but completely terrified of Dad, although he only met him once and knew him as my brother-in-law. Apparently, he could be intimidating in any authority figure position.

I was used to hiding certain parts of my love life from Dad, from all of them really. Dad reading the minds of myself and the ones I confide in was a pesky annoyance, but it seemed like it was an insurance of sorts for him. Got to keep me under lock and key, I suppose…

The truth was as much as I love my entire family, Mom and Dad especially, I wanted to break free just a bit… I wanted to have somewhat of a private life in the towns we invested so much time in. I barely spent time alone with my friends unless it was monitored in some way or another… or if I snuck away.

Mom was right… I'm good at sneaking out, but Daddy made it difficult…

~X~

Two days later and I was enrolled in Forks High. I was now a Spartan to go along with all the other mascots I had represented in the last twenty years or so.

Mom and Dad had come with me, under the guise of being my sister and future brother-in-law, to enroll me as Renesmee Alice Swan. It was interesting going by my original name. I had been a Swan, a Cullen, a Hale, and even a Masen in the past; but with everything else about me being practically false, it felt good to have something stay true.

To everyone here I was one the granddaughters of Charlie Swan; one of the daughters of Isabella Swan. Mom ended up having her legal records show that her name is Anna Isabella Swan, but she was telling people that she "prefers" to go by Bella. Having "mother and daughter" both "legally" named the same name would be a bit confusing for anyone. We also claimed that our "mother" had passed away a few years back. The only ones that would dispute that were Sue and the other La Push Wolves, but they had their own secrets to guard.

Either way, for all intents and purposes, I was a junior transferred to Forks High with my sister and her finance, along with a rather large extended family on his side that we are all close to.

A bit of a stretch? Maybe, but have you seen those stories of people having mothers that are also their sisters. I read the other day about a teenage girl that found out her father was actually her uncle and she found out about it when she was sixteen. Her "uncle/dad" found out when she was eight.

Our family could be so much more dysfunctional.

Walking through the main hallway, I made my way to my locker. I had about ten minutes before first period let out and then I needed to go to English. I dialed in the combination and then hung my shoulder bag from the door as I stripped my grey winter jacket off to hang inside.

Closing my locker door and turning to walk down to the east hallway, I nearly bumped right into a tall black-haired guy. "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to be in the hallways right now…" I apologized as he tripped trying to avoid me.

The man, who I could have easily pushed to the ground if I hadn't had better reflexes, smiled while catching himself and then pulling a hand through his shaggy black hair. "No, its fine, my fault." He fiddled with the whistle around his neck before continuing. "Are you new?"

I smiled, playing the good new student, while holding out my hand to the man. "Yeah, actually, just transferred today; I'm Renesmee Swan. And you are?"

His eyes became big and his hand tightened as he grasped my own. "… I'm… I'm amazed…"

**A/N: Who do you think the mystery guy is? Hint: He is not a high school aged boy… ;)**

**There was your taste of Renesmee without being watched by her "Daddy." I hope it's clear that although she is clearly the baby of the family, she is not, however, as innocent as she lets them all think. Just mischievous, but who could blame her?**

**Anyways, I am so happy that this next update is out so soon after the other. I'm working on so many projects right now; both fan fiction and teaching related. Just be patient and put me on update alerts because current or new stories could be updated anytime this summer :)**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	13. I Caught Them Barking at the Moon

**I own : a full tank of gas so I can head to my parents' for two weeks, sans parents… maybe some writing will get done :)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

_I smiled, playing the good new student, while holding out my hand to the man. "Yeah, actually, just transferred today; I'm Renesmee Swan. And you are?"_

_His eyes became big and his hand tightened as he grasped my own. "… I'm… I'm amazed…"_

"Excuse me?" I murmured, looking for the quickest escape. This dude was totally freaking me out with the way his big brown eyes were looking at me; analyzing me.

His laughter was sudden and made me gasp. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out; I just was wondering when I was going to meet you or your mother. I've been hearing stories of you both for years, all my life really." He laughed again.

Oh shit, I need to get out of here, now!

I pulled my hand back from his grip and held it close to my stomach while checking to see if anyone had come out of their classes to see what was going on. "Um… I have to… go to class, um…" My vision was starting to get tunneled, looking for an easy exit without causing more attention from the man that seemed to know "stories" about me. The panic was continuing to rise.

No one had ever come at me like this before. There had been whispers of rumors, random assumptions, and the occasional sci-fi theory depending on the teenage outlook, but it was never like this; a strange man in his late twenties claiming to know things about me and my mother. No, never like this…

How could he know? What could he know?

His arms began to wave as he saw my sudden movements, obviously trying to get me to calm down. "Oh my, no. Listen, my name is Noah, Coach Cheney. My mother is Angela Webber. She told me about you and your mother. I didn't mean to, Jesus, I'm sorry. Look," He flipped his arm up to take a glimpse of his watch, "we have like two minutes before the classes get out, why don't we go outside for a few minutes so I can explain…" He pleaded, looking a bit desperate.

I had no reason to trust him, but I also had no reason to not trust anyone associated with Angela. I knew Mom would back me up on that fact. Having my breathing return to slightly normal, I nodded, trusting that if Aunt Angela was his mom then I had to be safe.

I had always trusted Angela and so did the entire family. Even Aunt Rose had come around to accepting that she was a good choice to call and help Mom when she needed it. I still considered her family after so long and I could still remember the time I spend with her while waiting for Mom to change. The memories made me love her. Perfect vampire memory rocks…

Noah held the door open for me, and I smiled slightly as I went ahead of him. We walked to the side of the school, which was public, yet private enough for this particular conversation. "Angela is your mom?" I asked, trying to break the ice, while cringing as the bell rung to release 1st period.

"Yeah; you remember her? That's so… impossible, but then again it's the mysterious Swan girls, so nothings impossible…" He babbled.

How much does he know?

I shook my head, realizing that Angela hadn't kept our secret as well as we all thought; even if it was only shared with her son. For all I knew, he could have been broadcasting the stories to the whole town for years. "What exactly do you know? And, um, who exactly do you tell?" I asked trying to be discrete about the insecurities I was fearful of.

"Oh! I don't tell anyone, I swear. Mom used to tell me stories when I was younger about a made-up girl that had an angel baby with the help of her friend. I figured she just made up the whole thing. It was so fantastic, you know?" I nodded, waiting for him to continue. "Then one night I was waiting for her to put Jeff and Isabel to sleep and she named the mother and daughter; Bella and Renesmee. I remembered her saying she named Isabel after a friend of hers in high school and I was too curious not to ask. I talked to her afterwards and she told me what really happened after a lot of prodding. I kind of obsessed about it for a few years; that's why I was so excited. I knew you'd come back eventually; I was just hoping I would get to meet you one day. I figured _you_ would be back at least." I explained.

I nodded, taking in all the facts he just admitted. How did he know we'd come back? That _I _would come back?

Well, I did, didn't I?

"I'm freaking you out." He stated plainly, shaking his black hair out of his face. It was easy to see the resemblance between him and Angela now that I was looking for it. Their lips curled the same way when they were excited or shocked and the hair was a dead give-away.

I smiled. "A bit," I confessed.

He nodded. "Yeah, alright, listen I've got to go teach my next class and I'm sure you have to get to yours too, so why don't we just talk some other time when we have time to really talk… if you can talk at all. I know this is all kind of secretive." _Secretive_ was putting it lightly…

"Sure…" I murmured, trying not to commit to anything.

He smiled, before dropping a hand to my shoulder and then sprinting to the gym, hollering as he ran. "Alright, let me know if you need anything, Renesmee, anything at all…"

I smiled, despite myself. There was something that made me trust him, but I couldn't place if it was his ties to Angela or if it was just him.

Yet still he made me nervous. This was exactly what Mom was afraid of even though Uncle Jasper and Grandpa Carlisle assured her that there was no one that would expose us still left in Forks.

Although, I didn't really think he was going to expose us, at least, not on purpose.

This is just too hard…

I pulled out my phone and dialed the person I could always could on to hide my secrets and back up a story. When she picked up, I started talking quickly, hoping that would have her ask fewer questions.

I knew Grandma and Grandpa were at the doctors' practice looking to see if he could start as soon as possible since he was so eager to help out the people. Grandma was really good at convincing people that she needed him out of the house so she could decorate and spend to her delight. I also knew that Mom and Dad were downtown with Uncle Jasper seeing about some new documents for every member of the family to go along with our new story. In the rush to come here, he had only taken care of Grandpa, Mom, and me as far as legal documents were concerned. And I knew that Rosalie and Emmett were still in Seattle looking into work or school options. That left Alice alone with no one listening in.

"Aunt Ali. Can you do me a favor? I want to hunt before doing school fulltime again. Can you call into the office and tell them I have a doctor's appointment or something?" I asked, hoping that she would accept the explanation without any questions.

There were perks to having a physic aunt who couldn't see me or my decisions.

She paused and I heard a quick gust of wind and figured she was moving things around the house still. "Yeah, I guess, Sweets, but is anything wrong? You hunted last week with your parents and you usually go twice as long without…" She wondered.

"Everything's good, just a bit uncomfortable for some reason, I guess. Nerves, maybe? I think it's rubbing off of Mom, you know?" I lied, although not as much as I liked.

"Okay, yeah, just give me a minute and get to class, I can see the room you're supposed to be in so I know you're not there…" She said disapprovingly; yeah right, then why was she letting me skip the rest of the day… "Go, make an appearance and I'll call in. Come over later, I want to know everything, alright Sweets?"

"Okay." I murmured.

~X~

Twenty minutes later and I was running through the forest, leaving my silver Lexus IS C at one of the roadside shops bordering the woods. The feel of my bare feet hitting the mossy ground was squishy between my toes for each of the split seconds that they actually touched the ground. I left my Madden heels back in the car, knowing that Alice would never forgive me if I ruined them on a run.

I hadn't run far before I smelled the scent of a doe and her fawn. I couldn't bring myself to kill a mother and her baby; hit a little too close to home, I guess. I ended up just walking more into the forest. The deeper I got, the more lost in thought I became.

A sudden rumble got my attention, but I couldn't place it. It was too soft for thunder, but too loud to be an animal. I sniffed the air, before covering my nose all together.

What was the god-awful stench?

Another rumble, closer than before, startled me; I turned quickly coming face to face with a werewolf.

Shit!

**A/N: Oh, I'm mean, aren't I? I didn't even intend to have another cliffhanger twice in a row, but it just felt like a good place to stop (although I'm sure the argument could be made that there is no good place to stop during a story). Either way, this part is actually coming a lot sooner than I thought it would so I make no apologies. **

**I seem to be on a roll and I'm hoping it's not ending anytime soon. I at least have half of the next chapter thought out… :) But I will be honest, I'm driving back home to go to a wedding and then driving back all in one weekend. Bad/Sad news is the laptop is not coming with me, so no update at least until Tuesday, but probably Wednesday or Thursday :( Sorry, blame the bride, her name is Jenn ;)**

**BTW, what do you think of Noah and the wolf?**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**

**A/N Update 6/23/11: I admit I dod not have perfect editing skills and honestly I don't know how SM keeps all the stories straight on her own... With that said, one of my trusty readers saw that Noah's last name did not match his father, Ben, and it is now fixed. I'll address it again next chapter incase there's confusion still.**


	14. You Gotta Keep Your Head Up

**I own : $39 dollars worth of IKEA items… I love that store ;) If only I could spend more!**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**A/N: I know I rarely put notes above but it's IMPORTANT! One of my lovely reviewer readers caught a mistake last week. Noah's last name is supposed to be Cheney. He is Coach Cheney. I used Webber without giving it a thought since I was focusing more on how the story flowed and making sure all the facts lined up.**

**JPOV (Jacob)**

"Do you have to go?" Julie whined loudly as I went to gather my keys.

"Yeah sweetie, I do. Guess you'll have to make do with Ryan and your mom for the afternoon." She lifted her arms way above her head; her signal that she wanted to be picked up. Thankfully, at five years old she was still light as a feather. Of course, it couldn't hurt that I was an immortal werewolf…

"I don't want to play with Ryan, he's boring. I wanna go with you…" Her pout was adorable; then again I wasn't her parent, so my opinion was unwanted.

I laughed as she began to push out her bottom lip. I could see the effort it was taking when her tongue slipped out instead of her lip. I laughed and pulled her to my chest. "Don't worry; I'm sure someday soon you'll be out there with me." She giggled as I put her down, however I received a wooden spoon to the head as I rose back up. "Hey!" I yelped as the wood cracked in half.

"Watch your mouth around her, Jacob Black!" Claire picked up both pieces of the spoon and laid them next to a cast iron pan. Her eyes locked onto the object and in that instant; the threat was clear.

I watched Julie run down the hall to go brag to Ryan about someday coming out with me even though she didn't even know what she was talking about. I turned back to Claire, her glare still in place. "Oh jeez Claire, are you going to break a kitchen utensil on my head every time I come over here?" It was beginning to become a pattern lately.

"If you keep hinting to my children what you're really doing out there, I'm moving up to bake wear." I laughed, despite the venom in her eyes. "I mean it, Jacob."

I nodded, but didn't relent. "Claire, you know as well as I do that someday one of your children is going to phase. You can't fight it forever. Ryan's almost thirteen and the last generation starting phasing between that age and about sixteen. It's pretty much inevitable."

"It doesn't mean that my children will." She turned, starting to clean the dishes that Julie and I had used while making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.

I stood next to her, my back against the counter so I could watch her along with the hallway. "Claire, you know marrying Quil and having his children means the gene is passed on to them. You've known that since you were fifteen. Just because Quil quit phasing when you guys got engaged at the ripe old age of eighteen doesn't mean you can cheat fate."

"I'm aware of that…" She murmured, cracking a small smile. "But, I'm also aware that being a werewolf isn't all fun and games. You all have a bigger purpose for existing."

"We do," I agreed, nodding. "But hey, we haven't had to fight any vampires in years, hell, you weren't even the legal drinking age the last time we fought any leeches."

"I know, Quil keeps trying to get me to lighten up about the issue, but the closer we get to Ryan's birthday, the more nervous I get. And with the Cullens back, it's making me even more anxious. It was easier to live in denial when they were both little, you know?" She finished loading the dishwasher and leaned against the counter standing side by side with me.

"I know," I whispered while I slung my arm over her shoulders. "Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and the only thing you'll have to worry about will be buying new clothes every week and keeping the fridge stocked beyond reasonable standards." She laughed, hugging my side.

"Thanks Jake, that makes me feel _loads_ better. Are you really leaving? Quil will be home in a few hours from the shop." I shook my head.

"Nah, I gotta go relieve Brady so he can actually go see his wife sometime. I'm sure they'd both appreciate it." I laughed, pulling away and stretching my arms above my head.

Claire's eyes sparkled and I knew what was coming. "Speaking of which, when you gonna get a girl of your own, Jake? Why not bring Laura around some more?"

I shook my head. I liked Laura, but I didn't see anything happening between us. "No, I don't think it's going to work out with Laura."

"Come on, I liked her! Bring her around."

I laughed loudly. "You like everyone I bring around." I accused.

She gasped holding up her finger to my face. "That is not true. I couldn't stand Mackenzie, uhh."

"Well, I guess you had good reason with Mackenzie…" I admitted.

"Tell me about it! When she found out about Quil being so much older than me, she called him a 'creepy cradle robber'. That's a sure sign she would never understand or be okay with imprinting."

I nodded. Yeah I think there would have been a lot of stuff in my life she wouldn't have been okay with. Claire was quiet for a minute before slowly rubbing my shoulder. "Bring Laura back around. I have a good feeling about her."

I walked closer to her front door. "Nah, I hate to discredit you, but I have to disagree. I don't know why, but I just know it wouldn't work out…"

"Jake…" she whispered.

"What? We can't all be imprinted to our one true love. We can't all be that lucky…" My voice betrayed my broken heart, but it's true; if it hadn't happened by now, I was pretty sure it would never happen.

Claire wouldn't give up now. "Hey, you never know, maybe you're still destined to meet her. Maybe it's taken her so long for a reason."

I threw my head back and forced a laugh. "What is she waiting for then? Is she gonna show up ninety years old with a sudden itch to be with me?"

Claire looked at me the way she did when she was trying to scold one of her children. "No. Maybe, she hasn't come along yet because… because she hasn't been born yet. Maybe she's going to be made just for you. I mean, Quil and I aren't exactly the same age. Just because we look it, doesn't mean jack and you know that."

"True." I nodded. Quil imprinting on a two-year old was not what any of us had in mind when we were listening to the legends. "Then again, if he had waited until you were old enough you might not have been putting makeup on us when we all babysat."

Her glare returned. "Hey, I didn't hear either of you complaining." Her index finger was jamming into my chest.

I laughed, before pulling her into my side so we could walk to the door. "As true as that is, I did it for a completely different reason than your husband; he did it because he _needed_ to make you happy and I did it because I _wanted_ to make you happy."

She smiled, resting her head on my chest. "Aww, so sweet and charming. Now, you just need a girl of your own to dote on like you do Julie and I." I rolled my head in a dramatic fashion. "Fine, if not that, then you need to delegate more."

"What am I supposed to do; tell the other wolves they need to go patrol so I can troll the streets for a girlfriend? Tell your husband to phase after so many years so I can get laid?" She went to grab something from the kitchen, but I held her close so I didn't get hit. "Come on, you know I can't do that, but when I do find someone you will be the first to know." I promised although I believed it was less likely every day.

"I better be!" She smiled. "And I better get approval over her, too."

I nodded, "of course."

"You're gonna find someone good, Jacob, I know it. It could happen any minute, you know?"

"Maybe, here's hoping…" I really doubted it would happen at all at this point, but Claire didn't want to hear that so I kept my comments to myself. "Alright, enough with the pep talk. I have to go relieve Brady and you have to get dinner ready for your husband instead of chatting up his best friend. I'll see you later." I leaned down and kissed her head and hollered a 'goodbye' to Ryan and Julie which they returned from down the hall.

"We'll see you Sunday for dinner, right?" She asked.

"Don't you always?" I smiled before jogging to my truck. She nodded, waving to me from her doorway.

~X~

It was only about ten minutes before I dropped my truck off at my house and then ran into the woods, phasing without giving it a second thought. Immediately, I called out the order to Brady that he was off-duty and that I would take over until tomorrow morning. I always took the night shift and then rotated the day shifts out between the other wolves. There were only five others at the moment, but I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before a new batch changed due to the leeches moving back in.

I started running the length of the woods that lined the homes in La Push. Once I made that circuit twice, I moved out towards the other side of the boundaries. I was about fifty feet from the treaty line when I smelled something I hadn't before.

It was sugary, familiar to a vampire, but much fruitier than the sickly sweet odor that I had come accustomed to hunting in this form. It was nothing I had ever experienced. I knew I needed to investigate the origin of the smell, but I had an overwhelming urge to follow either way.

I ran a few feet before sensing the creature producing the scent coming closer to me than before. I growled, trying to scare the creature into freezing and thankfully they slowed so I could creep up silently.

When I broke through the brush, I got a glimpse of bronze curls down the back of a girl. The smell was intensified so I knew the beautiful fragrance was from her. I watched her head jerk trying to see me I'm sure, at an inhuman speed. I growled again, knowing that she was a vampire, but still confused as to her scent.

The moment she turned, the growl died in my throat. Her eyes locked on my mine and I fought to keep my body immobile. I wanted to run to her, but knew she'd fear me for sure. I wanted to lie at her feet and hope to hell she lay with me. Shit, I wanted to phase more than anything so I could talk to her, but me transforming from a wolf into a nude man would certainly frighten her in many ways.

My thoughts halted the moment she spoke. Her voice was even more beautiful than I expected; so much so that I didn't hear everything she said. "… I didn't realize I crossed the line, I swear. I joined the Cullens last, I didn't know. It won't happen again, please don't tell," she begged.

She crossed the line? Of course, I couldn't have crossed it. It's etched into my brain, there's no way I was even close to it. However, I still had no idea why she looked like a vampire and yet she didn't exactly smell like one.

And her eyes were the most beautiful brown… a familiar brown.

And I could hear her heart hammering in her chest.

And her face was flushed, beautifully.

I wanted to tell her she was safe and I wanted to hold her while I asked her my questions.

"Please, I wasn't thinking and I crossed by accident. I won't come back, I promise. Please don't tell anyone!" She begged and I immediately knew I would keep this secret. Her life was now mine to protect. Claire was right; the right girl could come any moment.

I nodded my head slightly, her smile quickly coming and leaving her face when she realized I understood and agreed with her request. "Oh… Thank you!" She yelled before running back over the treaty line and into the dense forest.

I immediately felt my whole body being tugged in her direction and I had to lay on the forest floor to regain some control over myself. I imprinted. What the hell was I gonna do now? Who was she? What was she?

I'm gonna find out.

**A/N: This was the plan all along; Renesmee runs over the line and Jacob finds her. However, it would have been in her POV and I think Jake needed some time to show how he has handled his life in the last thirty years. He's alpha and has become extremely close with Quil's family. Don't think it's all cut and dry now that he imprinted, that would end the story too easy. **

**Not sure when the next chapter will be out, I don't have long before I head back home and I want to work on a few other things before I go. Maybe if inspiration strikes it will be sooner or even a new story will be posted. I have been working on one on the side and about five chapters are already written, although it will only be like ten chapters at the most. Maybe there will be a schedule for that one ;) **

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	15. You Better Run, Better Run

**I own : Far too much school stuff that needs a new home… preferably my classroom ;)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

I'm so screwed.

This was it! I broke the treaty!

I'm possibly reasonable for starting a war…

Shit!

How could I be so damn naïve not to know my surroundings and cross the line? It seemed so obvious when I reentered so-called Cullen Territory, I could smell the difference. It was a minute change in the area, along with no gigantic paw prints scattering the forest floor, but it was obvious. If I had been paying more attention before, I would have never crossed the line and never would have found myself eye to eye with a werewolf; a beautiful, but frightening werewolf.

I needed to be more careful, hell I needed to learn where the line actually was…

I had been running in the opposite direction from the wolf as fast as my feet would take me and it was still too damn slow for my liking.

_Damnit! Run faster!_

I had no idea where I was headed. If I turned left now, I could head back to my car, but I didn't want to be contained at the moment, so I just kept going until I hit river and then jumped clear across it. On the other side, I felt a strange sense of safety, but I couldn't place why until I heard his call. "What's up, Batgirl?"

I smiled, before my face fell remembering what I had just done along with the fact that I had left school early for another stressful reason.

"Oh dear darlin', what's the trouble?" He was next to me a moment later and led me over to a set a boulders that seemed to be placed just for the purpose of looking over the running water. I stayed silent. In my head, I was completely flipping out and even though Uncle Jasper couldn't read my thoughts, he was reading my feelings. "You don't run these emotions very often… somethin' big happened, huh?"

I nodded, leaning forward and letting my hair shield my face. Jasper wasn't having any of it, though. He pulled my hair behind my ear and leaned in. "And you're scared to tell any of us… what could have possibly happened, Nes?"

"I…" I took a deep breath, deciding to admit to the one problem that wasn't my fault. "I left school early… I was recognized."

"Pardon?" Jasper spoke, and I could feel my anxiety spike because of his own.

"Angela's son is a PE teacher or something and he ran into me. He started talking about how he knew about Mom and me because she told him stories. He seemed fascinated with 'the Swan Girls'…" I rambled, letting the doubled stress get to me.

"Okay, okay…" I could feel him reeling in both of our emotions. I took a deep breath and he copied my motion even though he didn't need to. "Well, it's Angela's son, so that shouldn't be as big of a problem as if it was someone else. Did he seem like he meant harm or somethin'?" I shook my head. "Alright, well, it's definitely somethin' that we'll need to nip in the bud; a visit for your Mom and you to Angela's is in order, I'm sure. This is kinda expected. How much did he seem to know?"

I shook my head, letting out a deep breath. "Not much, just enough to ask a lot of questions. I'm sure he has theories, he wanted to talk to me about them, but also made it clear he didn't want to scare me. I think that's what freaked me out the most…"

He pulled me close to his side. "Don't worry so much, Nes. We'll talk to the family and figure it out, okay? This is easily fixed, especially since you told us quickly." Jasper stood up, pulling me up with him.

Cue the guilt…

"Nes?" He looked down upon my face. "Anything else happen, today?"

He knew what I was feeling. That much was obvious. It took practice to keep things hidden from Jasper and my Dad, but I was still so raw from running over the treaty line, I didn't know how to calm myself down to practice controlling my thoughts and feelings.

"Um, something happened, but I… I think its okay…" I tried to keep my voice even, I really did, but it was shaking like crazy. He didn't need to say anything, his eyes said it all. "Okay, but promise not to tell anyone?"

"Oh, Nes, you know I can't do that…" He shook his head. This wasn't the first time I'd requested this.

I nodded. "Okay, can you promise not to tell them if it's not necessary?" It was a long shot that the family wouldn't need to know that I crossed the treaty line and then got caught, but I could hope…

Jasper groaned. "We'll see…"

I nodded, knowing that was the best I was gonna get. "I crossed the line."

"The line?" He asked, but I could tell he already knew what I was referring to.

"The treaty line," I admitted. After a moment of silence I went on. "And I got caught…"

"What the hell, Nes? What were you thinkin'?" Jasper's rage was mixed with fear, for the family I assumed, and it caused me to crouch back even though I had no reason to be afraid of him, or anyone else in my family. Jasper calmed minimally when he saw my reaction to his outburst. "I'm sorry, darlin'." He rubbed his face, before placing both of his hands on my shoulders. "Tell me _exactly _what happened."

It wasn't a request so I didn't even brother telling him, I simply put my hand to his cheek and showed him everything. He was able to feel my panic and stress as I ran through the woods not paying attention to my surroundings. I had been told to stay within our designated territory, but no one had shown me the treaty line yet because I hadn't needed to hunt yet. Alice must not have foreseen me going too close, but then again, she couldn't see me at all.

Jasper's face fell the moment I crossed the line, he recognized that point in my memory. I was able to show him my interaction with the wolf, the way he growled, but didn't seem to threaten me. The way he seemed to know I was a Cullen, but yet forgive my crime of crossing the line. I allowed Jasper to see everything up until I jumped the river before I pulled back.

Jasper blew out a breath. "Well hell, you had some day, peanut…" I nodded, not knowing what to say about it at this point. "Alright, listen, I don't think I need to tell them, because you're little adventure seemed to be forgiven by the wolf, but there's no way to know that they won't retaliate, Nes. The mutt may not have the power to ignore the infraction and Edward said they share their thoughts when transformed. We may just be delaying the inevitable…"

"But, what if it _is_ forgiven and having the family confront them to apologize causes a bigger problem?" I asked, still panicking.

"We won't know for sure, I suppose, but will you be able to keep this from your Dad?" He asked, fighting a laugh since I couldn't hide it from him.

"Yeah, of course. I just need to distract myself and focus on something else for a bit so I'm not obsessing about it quite as much…" I confirmed. This is the kind of thing I practiced for; keeping the things my boyfriends and I did a secret from my father, and my uncles for the matter, were like a warm-up to this…

"Alrighty then, why don't we go pick up your car and head to the main house? Alice will want to hear about your day and that may help you _focus and distract_ yourself." He laughed as I followed behind him as he ran, leading me back to my car and a safe distance from the treaty line.

**A/N: It's been a while, I know and I haven't forgotten about the story or all of you. I just couldn't decide how I wanted Renesmee to work through the panic she was feeling. I wanted her to confide in someone, but she would need to feel the pressure to confide as well. No one could have gotten through to her quite as well. Plus, Jasper is just such a stinking cute Uncle :)**

**I will add new chapters and complete the story, but I don't know when… As inspiration strikes I suppose. However, I have started a new story **_**Stranded in the Student Union**_** and it is on an update schedule. I will update every Friday! Three chapters up and I still have chapters banked. It's AU/AH and canon, just a fun short story using my/your favorite characters.**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	16. Inventing Shadows

**I own : Far too much school stuff that needs a new home… preferably my classroom ;)**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

Uncle Jasper was right. Of course, Jasper was always right… it was pretty irritating, but it was a definite perk that my empathic uncle always knew what made me feel better.

Telling Aunt Alice about the, however limited, fashion I observed from the Forks High students made my mind clearer and helped me to relax enough to tell her about Noah and get her opinion. She was surprised, of course, that Angela would have been so generous as to tell her children stories about our family for bedtime tales, but in the end she could understand how the "fabulous-ness" of it all would sooth children to sleep with "wondrous" dreams.

The truth was that after Alice took a peak into each of the Cheneys' futures, it seems that none of them truly posed a threat as long as Mom and I talked to both Angela and Noah. It seemed Ben, along with Angela's other fully-grown children, didn't put much stock into the stories Angela told at night.

Aunt Alice seemed perturbed, to say the least, with Angela's behavior, but with Uncle Jazz's and my points of views, she came around to thinking through Angela's "human rationale."

"Still, you'd think she would keep the information to herself. People would assume she was damn-near crazy… and we all saw how that worked out with me during my human years…" She muttered the last part quietly, but she obviously knew we would hear her never-the-less.

"Ali, she was a mother telling a bed-time story. She could have gone to a tabloid. She could have tried tracking us down. She could have written the whole thing down and sold it, but she didn't. She could have become a best-seller with this story and never have to leave the comfort of her home and family, but she just whispered stories to lull her children to sleep at night. Can you really not see that she meant no harm?" Uncle Jasper murmured, pulling her back into his chest while wrapping his arms around her small waist.

I sat at the corner of her four-poster bed, leaning lightly against the pillar. "I know Angela would never mean us any harm, Aunt Alice. I get the same feeling from Noah; I just can't really explain it…" I quietly told her, believing each word that passed through my lips.

Alice's right eyebrow slowly rose to the top of her forehead, or at least as high as it could go, while she spoke. "A feeling? What kind of feeling exactly?" She tried to hide the smile, but it slipped out in the form of a smirk.

Suspicious pixie.

I shook my head, knowing anything I would have said would have been used, and held, against me within the Cullen Family.

Besides, while Noah was attractive and nearly right in between my real and pseudo age, he wasn't the one that was plaguing my thoughts at the moment. Nope, that russet wolf was and I really shouldn't be as curious about it as I was, considering my trespassing.

**BPOV (Bella)**

I dropped Edward off at the house before heading over to give Jasper the rest of the documents we had waited to get from Jenks this afternoon. Edward wanted to finish building the furniture that we had ordered from France or some other exotic place with highly expensive fixtures.

Driving down the fern-lined driveway, I could immediately sense Renesmee, even before I could see her car out front. Checking the dash, I could see there was still an hour and a half left in the school day. My thoughts began to rush to every horrible possible sernario, and I left the keys in the ignition without a second thought so I could run up the front steps and through the double doors.

"Renes-" I began before the load of relaxation from Jasper hit me. My knees buckled, a feeling not many vampires felt and it was beyond terrifying, but that feeling slipped away as well.

Jasper caught my left arm while Alice caught my right within seconds of this all occurring. "Relax, Bella. It's all fine…" Alice pleaded.

"As if I have a choice…" I whimpered, fighting the calming waves washing over my entire body. "Where is she?" I whispered, fighting the lethargy off.

I saw her form rush in front of me quickly. "Mom, why are you so upset?" She knelt down, touching my face.

"Get off of me!" I ordered to Alice and Jasper, placing my blame on them too easily. "Why the hell aren't you at school?" I demanded.

Her cheeks paled the tiniest bit before a blush covered her face and neck. She looked to Jasper before answering. "I panicked, overreacted really." I looked around, gauging the reactions of Alice and Jasper, before nodding for her to continue. "Angela's son, Noah, is a coach at school and I, kind of, ran into him and he recognized me when I apologized and introduced myself. Angela had told him and his brothers stories about you and me when they were growing up. I think, well, I guess he kind of… believed in it all."

"Excuse me?" This is what I knew would happen, someone would recognize us and we would be exposed. I didn't want to be on the Volturi radar and neither did the rest of the family, but they all swore that they had researched every living person in the town limits and beyond and we were "in the clear."

"Don't overreact, Bella…" Jasper said, slipping next to Renesmee. "She showed me the memory and I think he's harmless, just fascinated. A simple visit with Angela and you will clear everything up. We'll nip it in the bud, darlin'." He said to both myself and Renesmee.

I was quiet for several minutes before I locked eyes with Renesmee. "Show me."

**A/N: I'm back with a new chapter… the next chapter will be back to JPOV I believe…**

**I have it whirling around in my head, but we'll see. I apologize if you're reading Stranded and I have fallen off schedule. School is back and I'm crazy busy so I will update ASAP, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	17. I Want a Bad Girl, I Want it Bad

**I own : work I should be grading… sorry kids, fanfic calls :D**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**JPOV (Jacob)**

Saturday.

Suddenly every day seems longer, as if the days have doubled, tripled, or quadrupled in length. They drag, minute by agonizing minute, and I only have one goal; to be with _her_.

However, I cannot reach my goal, because I don't even know who _her_ is. I don't know her name, her family, her age, her background, her favorite food, color, or TV show. I have no idea if she loves to read or if she prefers to kick back with a movie. Hell, I don't even know what her smile looks like. I can imagine it; I have imagined it, among other things.

What I do know is that she is out of my league. That was obvious the moment I recalled her designer jeans and jewelry. Who wanders the woods in diamonds and Dior? Who knows if they're real, but from what Rachel has droned on about when her birthday rolls around, I'd bet on it. Her hair was perfect and I knew that didn't come from nature; that had to be purchased from a bottle.

But all that paled in comparison to the evidence I couldn't make heads or tails of. She wasn't human. I couldn't bring myself to believe she was a vampire either, but I knew she was with them; the Cullens. She spoke about the treaty as if she had inside knowledge, as if she was taught the information. The more I thought about her face, her eyes, her lips, and her hair; the more I felt déjà vu. And not just the kind that we felt with most imprints.

The majority of the wolves spoke of the strong feelings they had with their imprints, and even if they didn't, we could all read their thoughts. It felt as if they had known their imprints all their lives because the connection ran so deep.

I had caught Quil mention moments with Claire that I knew she wasn't around for; times when they hadn't even met yet. However, he was certain she was there until I argued the times and dates. He, as well as others, truly believed that every important memory happened with their imprints present, even if they just imagined it all.

But this wasn't like that. I knew I had seen those eyes, those lips, and that hair before, but it wasn't on _her_. It was on someone else; or some ones, but I couldn't place it.

It was so frustrating.

All this I could deal with. It was driving me bat shit crazy, but I could deal with it. I knew eventually I would know her and be with her, no matter what she was or who she was with.

But there was one thing, above everything else, that was tearing me apart more than anything else. That one thing was her name. I hated the fact that I could only call her, _her_. I wanted to be able to put a name to the gorgeous face and beautiful body. I wanted to think her name and know the smile on my face was because of who it belonged to. Everything else could wait, the rest could come along naturally as most normal relationships progress, but without a name, I felt lost; without a direction to run to.

I had taken the last three days of patrol, both night and day. I wouldn't tell anyone why I didn't want them phasing, but no one argued. They were all enjoying the unexpected days off too much to question why I didn't want them in my head.

At least the wolves enjoyed my non-stop patrols. Claire, on the other hand, was leaving homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, and pork chops on my stoop hoping to lure me back into my human form. She wanted to talk to me. She would drop of the kids off with who knows who and sit on my porch for hours waiting me out, but I held back in the woods. I wished she had left the food, but she always took it with her in annoyance.

Two days and she always took the food with her. She was really hitting me where it hurt.

Yet, today, she mixed it up. She sent Quil.

Damn it…

We had been starring at each other, while he began to pick at the corn bread Claire had sent, for a half hour. He was humming as he finished off two sections of the bread and I was growing more and more impatient.

"Anytime you're ready, dude, and you can enjoy the damn fine bread my wifey made for you… Or I can snack on this and tell her you were enjoying the rabbits too much to be forced into eating her delicious turkey legs she also sent for you." He smiled, holding up the Tupperware to show me. "She hasn't made these for me in weeks, man… stay a wolf, please…" He grinned, licking his lips.

_Damn, the turkey legs? Jesus, Claire…_

I growled, low, but menacingly. Quil just proceeded to pop the top of the Tupperware off and the smell traveled to my nostrils quicker than had I been human.

I huffed, knowing that I couldn't turn them down and shifted back into my original body. I slinked over to the wooden bench I had build on the property as a way to hide some extra clothes and other necessities I needed in between changes.

"'Bout time, Jake!" Quil hollered.

I shook my head. "Shut up and hand over a leg, jerk." I muttered.

"Sorry, man, Claire made me promise to convince you to come over tonight for dinner first, then you get the food." Quil stood up, knowing I wasn't above wrestling for his wife's cooking.

I drug a hand over my face. "I'll be there tomorrow. We always do Sunday dinners." I went to reach for the turkey legs, but he snatched them back.

"That wasn't a 'yes,' Jake."

"Damn it, Quil, who's wears the pants; you or Claire?" I shouted with a groan. His eyes locked with mine noting that we both knew the answer to that question. "Why the hell tonight, dude, I've got a shift…"

"Not anymore, Brady is going out, Claire already sent him about thirty seconds ago…" He smiled, holding up his cell phone, indicating a text sent.

"Ass." I muttered. I couldn't share a pack mind, yet, I wasn't ready. I needed more information before letting them know I imprinted. "Fine, I'll see you later."

He tossed the Tupperware at my chest. "Alright, see you at six, man."

"Sure, sure…" I groaned before it turned in to a moan due to Claire's turkey leg goodness.

~X~

Driving up to Quil and Claire's place made me nauseous, which was not a feeling I was used to. The white Toyota Corolla parked out front didn't help either.

That was Laura's car.

I closed my eyes, knowing that Claire was as good as dead in my book for the evening. She was such a damn meddler and it drove me bad shit crazy since I was the only one without a girl and between the ages of 17 and 50.

I was getting ready to throw my car back in reverse, but Ryan was hurdling at my car with Julie hot on his heels.

"Uncle Jake, Uncle Jake!" They screamed as Ryan began climbing on my hood. I was gonna smack the boy if he was wearing his cleats like last time.

"Ryan…" I growled, slowly… menacingly.

"Sneakers, I swear!" He shouted, before sliding back off the hood.

"Hi, Uncle Jake!" Julie was attached to my legs before I had even fully stood up. "Laura came over and she's really happy to see you." She whispered in my ear once I lifted her up against my chest.

"I bet," I muttered, making my way over to a smiling Claire. Once we were face to face, I put Julie down. "Why don't you go find out what food is ready, I'm starving." I watched as Julie ran inside and glared at Claire.

She continued to smile. It was the smile I knew too well. The smile she used to get Quil to do whatever she wanted, or anyone else for that matter. The smile was mastered from the time she was three. "How are you, Jake? Haven't seen you in a few days…"

And she kept the damn smile on.

"Cut the crap, Claire."

Again she smiled. "Can you say that five times fast?"

My mouth dropped. "What the hell are you doing? Why are you doing this to me? I said it wasn't gonna work out with Laura and me. I told you that not a week ago and yet here you are playing matchmaker… Damn it, Claire!" I rarely took my anger out on her, but this was just too much. All I could think about was _her_ and I couldn't even think about Laura as a possible option anymore, not that I did for very long anyway.

Shaking my head, and breathing heavily, I finally focused on the two people that apparently had just heard everything I said; Quil and Laura.

I watched her face fall before she turned around and headed back inside right before I heard a door slam.

Quil, on the other hand, looked pissed as hell that I was losing my temper with his imprint. Although I had always understood why the other wolves were so protective, I could finally empathize with how he appeared to be feeling towards me. I would have killed someone being rude with my imprint, let along being angry with her.

"Sorry, man, Claire."

I began to leave and head back to the Rabbit, but Quil ran up behind me. "Hey Jake!" I turned, fully expecting him to punch me out. "I know something's going on with you and it's big; that's the only reason you're not lying on the ground bloody right now by the way." He looked fierce and I nodded, knowing he was telling the truth. "But I'm here if you need to talk."

"Thanks, man, I just need some time and some answers though." He nodded and we both turned to head off in our own directions; him back to his family and me off to Forks to find some answers.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed the Jacob POV… I love writing him by the way… so fun! Next chapter will be the Angela visit… but I can't tell you anything because I'm still working it out in my head. No schedule of when it will be up, whenever inspiration strikes as usual.**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	18. It's Better if You Don't Understand

**I own : three new bloody scratches from my lovely doggie while I was trying to be nice and walk him in this lovely Florida, October weather… yeah… we'll see how long before that happens again after I crash to the sidewalk…**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**BPOV (Bella)**

I pulled the silver sweater over my head, adjusting my camisole underneath at the same time.

"I don't like this, Bella." Edward stated, standing behind me leaning against the door while I checked myself in the mirror. It wasn't a habit, but I wanted to look… I'm not sure, maybe, non-threatening, when going to see Angela.

I smiled at him in the mirror, "I am fully aware of that fact, Edward."

He came up behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders while kissing the back of my head. "Then, please, let me come with you and Renesmee so I can monitor the situation. I'll be backup; I'll keep my mouth shut." I laughed and he quickly turned me around to face him. "Don't laugh, I don't find this funny at all."

I nodded, and pecked his lips. "I know you don't find this funny and I realize this goes against your nature, but like I have said at least fifty times over the last two days, I can handle this; both Renesmee and I can. And it's our responsibility." I smiled, trying to appeal to any reasonable side I could.

He shook his head, letting his arms fall from shoulders to loop around my waist. "No, this is not just your responsibility. And, I really don't see why Renesmee feels such a duty here. She was a baby when she was with Angela, she cannot be held liable for being innocent and letting Angela take care of her." I raised my eyebrow at that. "I'm not saying you have the blame either. I'm only saying that it is all of our jobs to protect each other and our secret and that's exactly what I want to do. I left you with no other option than you call upon her and while I don't regret the fact that she was there, I should have never left in the first place. Let me come with you tonight. I'll remain quiet, let you all catch up, but I'll know their thoughts and I'll know what they have done, or what they plan to." His eyes were pleading, and I felt bad for resisting, but I was still not changing my mind.

I shook my head, pulling myself free from his arms to go to the closet and grab my gray coat. "You make it sound like an interrogation, Edward, and it's most certainly not. Angela and Noah did not commit a crime. She told her son a bedtime story and he favored it, especially when he found some truth to it. Don't you think I told Renesmee stories about my friends and family when she was growing up? It's what mother's do, they tell stories to entertain their children and to make them go to sleep faster." I laughed when his smirk appeared. "Renesmee and I will talk to them, see who else, if anyone, knows about what they know and explain why they can't share those facts. And we'll visit a bit." I pulled my coat on and Edward came over to adjust my collar.

"What if they ask you more questions? What if they want to know what we are exactly? What _Renesmee_ is exactly? What if they bring up the word 'vampire?'?" He asked, grasping at the last of the straws he had.

I put my hands on his chest, forcing him to look me in my eyes. "If they have questions, I will answer what I can and explain the best I can with what I'm not allowed to. If they bring up vampires, I will deal with it. I won't put anyone in danger, including them, but Edward, do you really think that they don't have some theories?"

He nodded. "Oh, I'm sure they both have theories, but I'm more concerned about 'his?'"

I placed my hand on his cheek. "Edward."

"I know, I know. I cannot help it. I don't trust him. The way he looked at her in her memory does not put me at ease and-"

"What, like she was beautiful? Because she is and everyone looks at her, and the rest of the family for that matter, like that when they first meet her and the rest of us. See? Another reason that you, her father, should not be present for this conversation. I can handle this." I stated, matter-of-factly.

"I realize you can. I do. I would just feel much better if I was able to witness this in any capacity." He hinted. "I'll sit in the car."

"Edward."

"I can stay in the trunk!" He pleaded.

"Edward!" I barked with a laugh. "Goodness let it go. I will call you the second I am out of there and you can drive by then if you're so set on it, but I promise you, if you come around and I sense you, you will be bunking at the other house for weeks, without me."

He sighed, and nodded.

"Good." I kissed his lips once and whispered my love before I went downstairs to get Renesmee and leave.

By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, she was already in the car turning the car on, while seating in the passage seat.

~X~

The car ride was silent, up until we reached Angela's street.

"Do you think Noah will even be there?" Renesmee asked.

I sighed, pulling the car over and turning the key. "Alice said he would be stopping by within the hour to drop something off for his brother, but the boys are off with Ben for the evening, so Angela's the only one here." I could hear her singing along to the radio as she moved around her house. "We should go, so we can talk to her before Noah comes." I began to open the door, but turned when I didn't hear Nes doing the same thing. "Renesmee?"

She smiled weakly. "I'm a little nervous, Mom. Is she still the same?"

I laughed, hugging her close, before turning back to the door. "Let's go and find out, baby."

She walked a few steps behind me, but I waited to ring the doorbell until she was at my side. It felt more than eighty four seconds before Angela was asking who was at her door, but it was a relief, non-the-less, when she opened the door, clearly shaken, but smiling widely.

"Bella! Oh my, this is… Oh Renesmee!" She lunged quickly, at least for a human, towards the both of us, wrapping her arms around Renesmee.

They stayed that way for minutes, before I cleared my throat, unnecessarily, to get their attention. At they pulled apart, with Angela petting Nes' hair fondly, I spoke "can we come in?"

"Of course! Yes, come in!" She spoke, pulling the both of us in behind her. We followed her to her living room and sat on her couch, while she sat in her easy chair. The changes in her were evident to the both of us; her hair, her looser skin, and her more noticeable laugh lines, but she was still just… Angela. "I take it you didn't just stop by to visit, although I hope you can stay for bit…"

Renesmee shook her head. "We did come to visit, but there is another reason as well." Angela nodded. "I ran into Noah this week when I started at Forks High and he… um, immediately recognized me as myself."

"Ahh…" Angela nodded to herself. "Of course he did, that clever boy." We waited while Angela looked down at her lap. After many minutes, I cleared my throat again and she spoke. "The stories, which I played off as complete fiction, fascinated him. More so than my other boys. He loved the magical qualities. When he called me on the fact that he thought it was real, I tried to explain why it was important to not talk about it. And he never did, except for with me." She smiled to herself. "I never wanted answers, honestly Bella. I'm not stupid, I know you're… otherworldly, but I have no desire to know exactly what the definition is. You are good, so is this beautiful girl," She smiled, gesturing to Renesmee. "And I believe the rest of the Cullens are as well. No other facts can change my opinion, so I don't need to know any more than that."

I nodded. "I understand that Angela; no one doubts that you're on our side, least of all the both of us." I assured her while Renesmee nodded enthusiastically.

"We can't give you answers, Angela. I wish we could, and because we can't, I'm so glad you don't want them. The problem… or the issue is, we need to know if Noah wants them or knows them." Renesmee stumbled, but trudged on. "The truth is, it's just too dangerous for Noah to know or at the very least for him to expose what he knows or suspects. I trust him, he's your son, but we have to know for sure. Both for the safety of our lives and for you all."

I lifted Renesmee's curls from her shoulder and as she turned to meet my eyes, I mouthed how proud I was of her.

Angela took a deep breath. "Oh my boy, I see. I don't know exactly what he knows besides what I know myself. I know he believed you both to be angels, as I did, and I know he suspects you all are some sort of… as much I don't like the word, monster, however kind as you are. He knows you both mean no harm, but I wouldn't doubt he's done research. He is a clever boy."

I had heard the car, the steps creak, and the front door open and close, but I hadn't let myself acknowledge his presence, because of how much Angela was revealing, without the use of my husband. Yet, I still shifted a bit when he spoke, not thinking he would actually speak with the talk he had walked into.

"A boy, really, I think you can use the word 'man' at this point."

**A/N: I split it, you hate me… let's just move on from that point, shall we. I wish I had more time to post, but I have had a ton going on. And it's not quitting any time soon… you all don't want excuses, so I'll keep them to myself. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed Angela and that you are looking forward to Noah. And how much do you love Edward being so overprotective, yet Bella puts her foot down. Gotta love when the dynamic is even!**

**So question: Who's at the door? Like it's not obvious, but I know you all have better ideas than me and I love when you share you're creative minds…. Changes nothing, but it's always interesting :-)**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	19. This Ain't Wonderland

**I own : ten empty boxes that I should be packing in preparation of my move in six weeks… oh well**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

"A boy, really, I think you can use the word 'man' at this point."

I turned, quickly, probably quicker than I should have in the presence of humans; whether it was Angela and Noah or not.

Angela waved her hand in the air as a dismissal. "Man. You're still my first little boy, so shush." She put on a stern face almost instantly. Noah came closer, as she began to speak. "You have some explaining to do, to them," she stated, pointing to Mom and I.

"O-kay…" He muttered. After a moment, he held out to his hand to Mom. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Swan."

Mom shook her head, giving a slight smirk. "Technically, it's Mrs. Cullen, but call me Bella." Noah nodded, saying a 'hello' to me as well. "We need to talk to you, but I think you already know that."

"I kind of assumed, what with the tail-end of that conversation and all." He agreed.

Angela stood, and all eyes went to her. "I really don't think it's necessary for me to hear any of this." She started. "I _know_ Renesmee and Bella are good, but I don't really want to know what they are. I know you're not angels; I do realize that now. I think I always knew that, but still. This is between you all and Noah. He's a good b-, man and he can get him out of this shit storm." My mouth dropped. Mom was frozen. Noah blushed. "Let me know before you leave, Bella." And with that she walked away.

We were all silent until we heard Angela upstairs closing a door behind herself.

"Well, alright then," Mom began, but then paused.

Noah rushed to cut in. "Look I didn't mean to start something, truly. I just was so excited to meet you, Renesmee, and I can see I must have scared the crap out of you and that was completely not my intention. Please understand that I will not tell a soul about anything I know about you. I won't even bother you at-"

I leaned over the arm of the couch to lay my hand on his. "Stop. It's okay. I understand all of that and while it's true you did freak me out. You don't have to avoid me. You can talk to me. You work at my school; it would be ridiculous to ignore each other."

He nodded, looking even more confused.

"Look, we didn't come to threaten you or give you the riot act." I began to explain. "The reason we're here is because… well we need to know what you know, about us. It's for your safety, as well as ours." Mom let her hand run over my shoulder with a quick squeeze, letting me know I was doing well.

"Got it," Noah said sadly, and I immediately felt bad. "Honestly, I know you're not angels either. I figured it out a long time ago when my friends and I use to go down to La Push to surf and hang out with the Rez kids." I felt Mom immediately stiffen, but Noah read the reaction wrong and he rushed to diffuse the situation. "I know you're good. Otherwise you'd have already gotten rid of our family." He joked, but quickly backtracked. "I mean, you both, and the rest of your family I'm sure, is the reason I went to a four-year university. I know that for a fact. Thank you, by the way." Mom smiled simply smiled at his babbling.

"Anyways, I know what you are, at least, I'm pretty damn sure what you are, Bella. I'm not quite sure what you are." He said, gesturing to myself. We all waited, without a word, while this sunk in. After a few minutes and few silent hand gestures from me, Noah said the one word Mom and I had hoped not to hear. "Vampire. At least that's what I assumed from the talk I heard around the Rez."

"Shit." I whispered, not knowing what was going to happen at this point. I had completely not given this option even the least bit of a possibility in the last few days of stressing. Then again, this was not my most stressing interaction that I had to deal with.

I watched Mom begin to nod. "Okay." She took a deep breath and I knew she was glad that Dad hadn't come. We'd be moving within the hour across the country. "I have to ask you, Noah, does anyone else know this; what we truly are? Besides the people on the Rez…"

"No." He said without hesitation. "I would never tell anyone. I wouldn't do that to you all, ever." He spoke so sincerely, I couldn't help but smile at him.

"Okay, good." Mom spoke to herself. "I'm going to be honest with you, Noah, not just because you are Angela's son, but because I know you can be a good friend to my daughter." I quickly turned to look at her, but she didn't hesitate to look at me in return. "There are people who will hurt you, your family, and us if they find out you know about vampires because of Renesmee and me. I can't let that happen. I just… can't." I reached to link my hand with Mom's, my eyes begging Noah to be the kind of person that we all needed for him to be.

"I get that. I figured there was something to that effect since you never told Mom what you were. I would never tell anyone, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious as hell." He admitted, and Mom laughed at that.

"Oh course you are… I remember being like that…" Mom whispered too low for Noah to hear. She cleared her throat. "Alright, I think I'm going to go chat with Angela and then say goodbye. I'm sure your Dad is worrying a hole in the foyer floor at home by now." She said with a short laugh.

She let go of my hand and pushed my curls over to one shoulder before heading over to the stairs and ascending.

Noah and I stared at each other for a moment before he spoke. "You and Bella… it's just so surreal to see that it's… real." I nodded, looking down. I'd give anything to know what he was thinking. "It's really that dangerous that I know? I mean, for you?"

He seemed so damn worried, for me. "Yeah, it really is. We've done a great job of flying under the radar, but that doesn't mean we're above the… law, so to speak." I vaguely explained, thinking about the stories Grandpa and Uncle Jasper had told me about the Volturi and what they would do to us, or me, if they knew about Mom and Dad.

I shivered and Noah moved to the couch that I was perched on. "I'm sorry, I'm just… damn I'm sorry I'm so curious and I'm endangering you by trying to place myself into your world." He said, lifting a hand through his shaggy hair.

"It's okay. It's not your fault." I paused, not really sure how I got into this conversation. "It's just the way it is, you know?"

"Yup, at least, I would assume so." He nodded with a laugh, placing his hand next to mine, barely a breath apart. After many moments of silence, he rushed to say, "How inappropriate would it be to ask you a few questions that I'm dying to ask?"

I barked a laugh. "Wow, some self-control." He muttered a 'sorry.' "One question, but I reserve the right to refuse giving you an answer." I ordered.

"Deal." He said, without pause, and I held my breath.

He nodded, seeming to think over the many possibilities he could ask. "Noah, one question for _tonight_. Usually getting to know each other as friends requires questions and I do hope we can be friends. So just pick one." I couldn't explain how or why I trusted him, but I couldn't just attribute it to him being Angela's son.

He laughed, his smile sparkling. "Alright, well, no offense, but you blush." It wasn't a question.

I nodded. "Am I supposed to confirm that fact?"

"No." He paused. "I've never seen you stop breathing either."

Oh. "You wanna know what I am." I stated, looking down. After he opened his mouth, without speaking, a few times, he merely nodded. Taking a deep breath, I spoke. "Basically, I'm a half-breed, so to speak. Half vampire, half human; my mom was human when she got pregnant and my dad, well, he wasn't." I explained.

"Oh." He simply said.

"Yeah." I nodded, with a small smile. "I pretty much got the best parts of both; no ageing, super strength, speed, human food…" I trailed off. After his eyes wrinkled, I quickly said, "Don't ask, another time."

He laughed. "Deal." He held his hand out for me and I immediately shook it.

"Deal."

**A/N: Part two out… way before I planned. I kind of can't stand that no matter how much I wanted Noah to be just a "red herring" I can't help but love him. He's just too cute and caring.**

**Hope you enjoyed… hopefully I will have a new chapter soon, but I make no promises.**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	20. Everybody Talks

**I own : (rent) a two bedroom apartment that is somehow completely full…**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**JPOV (Jasper)**

"You're keeping something from me." I turned from the bookshelf that I was organizing and locked eyes with Alice. "I know it's something between you and Renesmee. I know you deserve to have a secret with her, or anyone else, so I won't pry. But, I thought you should know that I'm aware that you have this secret from me."

I continued to stare at her as she finished talking; waiting for something else, anything else she needed to say. After several moments of silence, I spoke. "Thanks?"

Her mouth fell into a frown. "You're not going to tell me, are you?" I thought about the fear in Nes' eyes when she told me about her encounter with the wolf and the way that wolf reacted to her apology. It all seemed finished. The wolves hadn't contacted the family or retaliated in any way and it had been over a week. Nes and I both had agreed that it must be fine and that she should just stay with the family until she had a firm grasp on the boundary lines.

I smirked, hoping to distract her. "No."

"It's going to drive me mad, you know that." She raised one brow hoping to sway me.

I walked over to her, before pulling her to the plush armchair that she insisted upon placing by my books, as if I needed to 'soft comfy area' to read at. Once I sat down, I pulled her onto my lap, wrapping my arms around her waist and shoulders. "Did you not just tell me I deserve to have secrets with anyone?" Her pout told me she didn't truly mean the statement she had just made. "Was that your way of shaming me into telling you?"

She huffed. "I wouldn't use the word, _shaming_, Jas."

"No? Then what? Were you hoping guilt would override an empath?" I teased "Darlin', our niece came to me with something she didn't want to tell anyone, something that upset her severely. Had I not been able to feel her emotions, I'm not sure she would have told me anyway, but she did, and she asked for confidence. Don't _you_ give her that when you have secrets with our niece?"

Her face fell before she hid the evidence in my crest. "I hate it when you have a point."

I laughed. "No, you hate it when I know things that you, a beautiful, gifted vision-seeing vampire, don't. No one else can keep a secret with me, but Renesmee. Darlin' you need to get past it. It's nothing that you need to know, I swear, otherwise you would have know already."

She sighed, bringing her fingers up to play with the buttons of my shirt. "I know, I would have known the moment you decided to tell me, and you're not wavering at all. I just don't like to not to be in the know."

I laughed, before getting a smack to the chest. "Oh believe me, I know." She sighed again. "Come on, why don't we go for a run, maybe a hunt if you're thirsty?"

She rose quickly, clasping our hands together. "I'm not thirsty, unless you are, but a run sounds nice, especially with you." She kissed me quickly, before we headed out for the night.

**BPOV (Bella)**

As I heard the beep of the car, I saw Edward sauntering down the stairs to meet me at the beginning of the walk. "You couldn't wait for me to get inside, huh?" I laughed, kissing him quickly before pulling him back to the stairs to sit.

"Don't distract me, Bella. What happened? Where is our daughter?" He said sternly while pushing my hair behind my ear with a gentle touch. Such a contrast.

I smiled. "It went fine, just like I predicted it would. And I dropped off Nes at the grocery store, she's going to call Emmett to pick her up; I already texted him to give him a heads up. I would have stayed with her, but I knew you'd be panicking." I teased.

Edward shook his head. "Bella, be specific, please. I'm losing my mind here."

I sighed, bracing myself for his overreaction. "Noah knows what we are."

His eyes flashed. "What?" he grunted the word.

"He knows we're vampires, but he also know we don't hurt people. He's not going to tell anyone." I assured him.

"Tell me everything." Edward demanded and I glared at his tone. "Please." He stated.

I shook my head, he overreacted whenever if came to Renesmee or I being in danger, even if the prospect was slim to none. "I am. Noah heard the legends from La Push and put two and two together with what Angela told him. He never told her his theories, but she knows were not exactly human either. Noah wants to be friends with Renesmee and I think he'll be a good one. She doesn't have to be completely dishonest with him, but I explained that there was only so much either of us could tell me or confirm. He understands the risk, the danger. I trust him, Edward."

He grunted and looked down, signaling his dislike for my feelings, but didn't comment.

"Edward?"

He looked at the concrete for a few more moments before he locked eyes with me. "I don't like this."

"Well, that's a complete shock." I stated, my sarcasm thick.

"Bella." I waited. "I don't trust him."

Of course he doesn't, Noah's a boy… man. "You don't know him, Edward. He's Angela and Ben's son. I think that counts for something. He didn't advertise the fact that a half-vampire is at Forks High, he didn't bombard me with questions, and he didn't demand anything. He was polite and respectful. He thanked us for sending him and his siblings to college; for paying their way. He told us he has questions, but he understood that we may not be able to give him answers. I think he wants to protect us. Just because he's male, does not mean he's just after Renesmee, let it go." I spoke firmly, yet gently, letting him know exactly how I felt about this.

He shook his head. "You trust him?"

"I do." _Isn't that what I just said, _I said with my thoughts.

Again, he shook his head, racking a hand through his hair. I took his hand in my own. "Okay. I'll try to be understanding. I just don't like that he knows so much." Edward tried to justify his feelings and reactions. I understood, but I needed him to trust my own decisions when it came to this.

"I know." I nodded, pulling him up from the stairs.

"I trust our daughter, I do." He tried to explain.

I continued to pull him to the front door. "I know that, too."

"I stayed here. I didn't follow you." He stated in a small voice.

I laughed, pulling him through the door and then locking it before heading to the staircase. "Yes, I know you listened and I appreciate that."

He followed me up the stairs. "Do I get my reward?"

I barked out a laugh before walking into our bedroom. "I guess you do…" I smiled, pulling him to me.

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

I walked up and down the aisles, putting random things in the cart that looked appealing. I didn't need human food, I could hunt only animals if I wanted, but it wasn't just thirst that I felt. Sometimes, I hungered for some chips or a giant fruit salad. Drinking blood would bury the hunger, but it always returned and it just seemed better to eat at home unless I truly was thirsty.

I looked down and saw I had about two weeks worth of snacks in the cart, so I headed to get some home necessities before heading to the check-out.

As I grabbed some shampoo and conditioner, my cart was knocked to the side by another shopper. I looked up to see a tall, Native American man pushing the cart that had knocked my own. "Sorry," he said with a smile.

I smiled back before dumping the shampoo and conditioner into my cart. "It's fine." I began to push my cart past before he called back.

"No small talk? So much for small town manners…" He said with an easy smile.

I must've looked shocked by his bluntness, because his smile got about three times bigger as I gawked at him. "Sorry, I just moved here, I guess I haven't gained them yet."

He didn't miss a beat. "That's no excuse, come on; don't I at least get your name?" He asked, still smiling. I just stared at him for a moment or two, trapped in his gaze. His eyes seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him. He must have been at least in his early thirties, why would he be flirting with me? Assuming that was what he was doing…

I shook my head, before turning around and heading to the cashier. "Renesmee." I called back, not bothering to wait for a response.

As I loaded everything onto the conveyer belt, I heard him come up behind me. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jacob." I nodded, but didn't turn around, getting out my phone to text Emmett.

I handed my cash to the teenage girl ringing up the food and I noticed that she kept stealing glances at Jacob right behind me. I laughed knowing that she must have been staring at the muscles he was sporting.

I headed outside, seeing that Emmett was already entering into the parking lot. Jacob called out after me. "Have a nice night, Renesmee"

**A/N: It's been forever. I know. I've had a rough few months… well rough is a complete understandment, but I won't bore any of you with my hardships. Just know I want and intend to finish this story. I may have stepped away from writing for a while, but I continued to read and have found some new inspiration to help me get back into the story.**

**Thank you for all the people that have read and reviewed and asked for me to continue. I don't know when the next chapter out, but it shouldn't take this long ever again.**

**Hope you enjoyed it.**

**As always, Enjoy and Review to give me inspiration!**

**~kmwhyte**


	21. And I Feel Like I am Just Too Close

**I own : a ticket to Chicago and Hard Rock Hotel Reservations! Gotta love the opportunity to go to a work conference to someplace so cool!**

**I don't own : Twilight (any of it) or the music I make reference to (well, I do have it on iTunes and some on CDs, but I don't think that's what they're talking about…)**

**RPOV (Renesmee)**

The weeks were going by.

It had been three weeks since Mom and I went to see Angela and Noah and everything seemed to settle down rapidly. Dad was on edge, but that really wasn't anything new. He was just an overprotective dad, but I kinda loved that.

School was fine, same old lessons that I had already learned many, many times before. That was the thing about high school. The academics didn't vary much more than a few new current events and maybe a new discovery, but otherwise it was just the same as it had always been.

However, the people were what changed. The things that got the preppy kids in Rochester all up in arms had the kids in Sothern Missouri not even offering a second glace. It seemed Forks was closer to Missouri.

They didn't care about things that went on in other towns, let alone in other states. They cared about their home base and who was going out with whom. Clothes were just clothes, not really a statement of fashion or status. It was more about the relationships; who were friends and who were enemies.

I always enjoyed watching from the sidelines and just observing before actually immersing myself in the school population. I needed to know who I could trust and who I could enjoy hanging out with; people that weren't going to press for details that I couldn't give, but would like me anyways.

It was harder this year for some reason and I got the distinct feeling that I wouldn't have too many friends left to bid goodbye to when we ultimately left Forks behind.

It wasn't that there weren't nice, good-hearted people here. There were, absolutely. It was just that I didn't really have much in common with them and I didn't really few the draw to them that I usually did. I didn't feel the draw with any of the high schoolers.

I felt the draw with Noah.

I wanted to be friends with him.

I had never had someone know about my family and myself; no one that had understood why we kept our distance and why we couldn't answer certain questions. And I definitely didn't have people that knew my 'sister and brother-in-law' were actually my parents and that we were vampires.

It felt so… relieving…

I felt relief at not having to outright lie about my entire existence. Granted I wasn't telling Noah everything about myself, or the rest of the family, but he knew the basics and we were slowly working through some of his questions.

We had made a deal; one question every time we talked without people around. I certainly didn't want the whole school, or town, to know what he did. We also still had the rule that I didn't have to answer something if it would put either of us in danger or if I was uncomfortable with the question itself.

It was working and I loved the friendship.

"Renesmee, aren't we running late?" Noah came up behind, settling into the school coach persona. That was another thing; we decided not to really interact at school much unless it was "about school." He wasn't my coach, but we saw enough of each other that he was still a teacher. We didn't need people talking.

"Only by a few minutes, Coach Cheney, don't worry I'm headed straight to Mr. Behun's homeroom." I smiled, before heading off down the hallway while Noah headed in the opposite direction towards the gym.

~X~

We were outside the Coffee Shop, aptly named 'The Coffee Shop,' while I drank my third Sprite and Noah continued to drink the god-awful, smelling coffee. It was disgusting; I said it several before and I'll keep the opinion, thanks.

"Sure, you don't want an iced coffee or something?" Noah asked as I returned to my seat after getting my refill.

"No, I can't even look at that awful stuff. I'll stick to the soda, thanks." He nodded before looking over to the few people milling around before going into the bookstore next door.

Once the patio was clear again, Noah spoke. "Alright, I got my question for today."

I laughed. He made this such a big deal. I seriously suspected he had a list at home on his fridge with all of his questions in order by priority. So far, he had been pretty predictable. He asked about why we left Forks, why we came back, where we had been over the years, why Mom and I were separated from the rest of the family, and, of course, what we drank. I had refused to answer only question; what would happen if I fell for a human. I didn't have an answer. While my parents had a great relationship now, they went through a lot of hard times and a lot of heartache that might have never happened if they were both human, or both vampires. I, of course, probably wouldn't exist if either of those were the case though, so instead of answering, I just stressed about it for weeks on end.

"Well, what is it today?" I asked, waiting to see if he had come up with something I would approve of.

He took a breath before leaning in closely. "Alright, I'm kind of expecting you to not answer, but I really want to ask…" I nodded, waiting and watching to make sure no one was around to overhear. "Can you do anything else, besides run fast and bend metal with your boney fingers?"

I blinked, trying to decide if I should laugh or get upset at his little joke. Yet, the joke didn't really register for more than a minute.

He was seriously asking this. I trusted him, of course, but how could he not freak out about my ability. The only way for him to understand would be to show him and then he'd probably take off running. This wasn't like me showing Dad that I was his daughter or showing Alice the dress I wanted to wear to go shopping. This was exposing my human friend to the world of… the supernatural. I mean, sure, he was already hanging out with a half vampire, but still.

I was quiet for minutes before Noah spoke. "You're not gonna answer me, are you?"

I placed my elbow on the table before holding my head up on my hand. "I don't know if I should, Noah."

He took a deep breath. "Is it gonna put us in danger?" He asked softly.

"Possibly, but that's not it." I tried to explain.

"Was it out of line…? I'm sor-" He tried to apologize, but I wouldn't take it.

"No, don't. It wasn't. I just… I just don't want to freak you out." I was twirling my curls like an insane person.

He thought for a moment. "Does your head spin off and fly?"

Huh? "What? No."

He laughed. "Then it won't freak me out. As long as all body parts stay attached, I'm good." He scooted closer, lowering his voice. "You're a half vampire, you can bench about four hundred times as me, and you drink animal blood. How are gonna freak me out?"

Fair point…

I shook my head, before taking his hand in mine. He gasped, not expected the physical contact I'm sure. We hadn't touched before. "Just stay calm. Please?"

He nodded, still unsure.

I showed him Angela, from when she was with me as a baby. She was singing to me while she brushed my hair, smiling while I smiled back. The scene played for a few minutes before I pulled my hand back, watching his face stay in complete shock.

"Noah?"

"She used to sing me the same song." He said, without really moving.

I smiled, hoping he just needed the time to process.

He leaned back against his chair, pulling his fingers through his shaggy hair causing it to fall right back into his face when he got to the ends. "That is… holy shit. That's so amazing. You thought that would freak me out?" I laughed, before nodding. "It didn't. That is the coolest thing I've ever seen, Nes."

It was the first time he called me that, but it wasn't weird. At all.

I smiled, not knowing what else to say.

"You can show anything?" He whispered.

"If I experienced it." I nodded, my eyes shifting to the people that were starting to exit the bookstore with bags hanging from their arms. Noah's head turned to see the people headed our way.

"Definitely not freaking me out…" He mumbled before sipping his coffee.

~X~

_(The Next Day)_

I was supposed to be meeting Noah at the diner right after school. He had said that they had the best steak and I was in the mood of some meat. This particular hunger wasn't quite for blood, but a barely seared slab of meat would hit the spot perfectly.

Mashed potatoes sounded pretty good as well.

I checked my watch as the waitress set down the water that I really had no intention of drinking. "Do you wanna order something, sweetie? Or are you gonna wait for your friend?" The older woman asked.

I smiled, noticing that Noah was a good twenty minutes late. "That's okay, I'll give him another few minutes and if he doesn't show, I'm just gonna head out." And go into the woods to get a damn dear. "Thanks."

She nodded, turning away from me.

I pulled out my cell phone.

_Picking you up at six – Dad_

I smiled, knowing that he probably had worlds more to say about the fact that I was hanging out with Noah, again, but he wouldn't text it. No, he would just save all the lovely things he had to say until I was unable to delete, mute, or ignore him.

"Hey! Renesmee, right?" Someone said while I typed a quick message back to Dad so he knew I got it. I looked up, ready to dismiss whoever it was while still being polite and not drawing in any new attention, when I came face to face with… what was his name? Jack? Jake? I think… Jacob.

I smiled, hoping this was not becoming a pattern. "Hey…" I said, letting him know that I couldn't quite place him.

"Jacob." He offered easily, smiling all the while.

"Right. So, how are you?" I asked, seriously starting to wonder when Noah would get his ass here.

His smile got bigger; something that I would've thought impossible. "Good, good. This seat taken?" I didn't even get the chance to say anything because he was sitting before he finished the sentence. "So, you're new to town, right? Where you from exactly?"

Seriously? It was one thing for the students to ask this every time we got somewhere new, but adults usually had a tad more tack. Did he really expect me to answer? Thankfully, Noah finally walked through the door and I decided to make a lovely show of waving him over. "Noah!"

He smiled, but it fell when he saw Jacob. "Hey, Renesmee, I'm sorry I'm late, emergency faculty meeting, some new teacher starting next Monday…" He trailed off, before locking his eyes with my unwanted guest. "Hi, I'm Noah." He held out his hand and Jacob took it while standing, well, towering over him.

"Name's Jacob, nice to meet ya." His words were friendly, but his tone was similar to Dad's whenever the boys in whichever town we were in flirted with me. Why would he be protective? He doesn't even freaking know me.

"Yeah." Clever Noah… "So how do you know Nes?" I smiled. At least Noah's helping me out here.

"Oh," Jacob laughed. "We go way back, old friends." Huh? "Anyways, I gotta meet my friends next door, but I wanted to come say 'hey.' I'll see you around." He looked at me the entire time and then walked through the door and headed down the street without checking the store the next door.

"Interesting friend you got there." Noah mumbled, but, of course, I heard him.

"Yeah, I wouldn't call him a friend." I said. It was still bugging the crap out of me that I couldn't place his eyes though.

**A/N: Wow, oh wow, aren't you all happy that I got this out a whole lot faster than the last chapter. What can I say, I got totally inspired. I have a few ideas for the next chapter, so hopefully it won't take too long to get it out to you all, but the next two weekends will be busy for me; family coming to stay with me next week and then I'm going Chicago for 5 days the next. So excited!**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and please review. It totally makes my day!**

**~kmwhyte**


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